Meet ECLOF Clients

Project location: Africa, rural. Project type: animal breeding

What is a grasscutter? An instrument to cut the grass?

No. The grasscutter is in fact a rodent found in grasslands and wooded savannah south of the Sahara.  The grasscutter was recently listed by the US National Research Council in its document: “Micro-livestock: Little-Known Small Animals with a Promising Future”.

Why?  First of all, because of the quality of its meat.  In a survey on consumer preference for different types of bushmeat it came out as number one.  Taste apart, its meat is nutritionally superior because of its higher protein-to-fat ratio and higher mineral content. Furthermore, grasscutter meat transcends religious prohibitions.  Muslims, who do not consume rabbit or guinea pig do eat grasscutter.

In Ghana, where 80% of the estimated annual national meat requirement of 200,000 tonnes is imported, this gives this little rodent a very special value.  Grasscutter can be domesticated thus providing food security, job opportunities and be a reliable source of income for many, including the poorest.  It feeds on grasses and it can be raised in backyards and on flat roof tops by the landless. 

All of the above and more was explained to the ECLOF visitors during a visit to the Ablekuma Grasscutter Farmers Cooperative Society Ltd (AGFCS), located in Accra, Ghana. Heifer Project International (HPI), one of ECLOF’s ecumenical partners have assisted the society in its work.

So why are more people not breeding grasscutter?  Well, the main problems are a lack of breeding stock and high initial cost of breeding stock.  One grasscutter costs as much as two goats.