In the moderately hilly area of Nyamirambo, Nyarugenge District in Kigali, thousands of rabbits, ranging from newborn kits to full-grown bucks can be seen comfortably moving in hutches made of rust-resistant wire cages.

It’s around 11 a.m. at Kigali Rabbit Farm, where the hutches are equipped with plastic mats, birthing nests, automated feeders, and a piped watering system connected to overhead tanks. Urine is efficiently channelled through pipes into tanks to maintain hygiene.

All of this is the result of Dieudonné Musoni’s vision. His farm, which specialises in breeding meat rabbits—including through artificial insemination—hosts between 3,000 and 7,000 rabbits each month.

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Musoni, who also chairs the Rwanda Rabbit Farmers’ Association, is the official African distributor for Hycole, a French company known for high-performance meat rabbit breeds.

A single rabbit of this breed, used as parent stock, costs Rwf40,000, and his farm sells between 1,000 and 2,000 such rabbits monthly.

"This breed reaches 2.5kg in just 73 days, and a doe can produce up to 18 kits every 42 days—far more than the local breeds,” Musoni said.

While the imported breed is more expensive, he said it is also more profitable. Hycole rabbits can reach up to 10kg in weight, more than double the 4.5kg typical of local varieties.

From financial consultant to agripreneur

Before venturing into agribusiness in 2018, Musoni worked at a financial consultancy firm, earning Rwf150,000 per month. With degrees in finance and disaster management, he explored several agricultural options—from crops to chickens, pigs, and cows—before settling on rabbits due to their lower startup costs.

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He began with 30 local rabbits, investing around Rwf2 million, 70 per cent of which went into building housing for the animals. But he soon realised the local breed offered limited returns and pivoted to Hycole rabbits after receiving training in France.

"You can invest Rwf10 million in rabbit farming and make a monthly profit of Rwf2 to 3 million—if it’s well managed,” Musoni said.

He credits his farm’s success to vision, discipline, infrastructure, and professional practices, including the use of artificial insemination.

With artificial insemination, up to 500 rabbits can be inseminated in just two hours, compared to the traditional method that takes months and has a lower success rate.

Growing market, untapped potential

Despite his farm’s scale, Musoni said he is still unable to meet growing demand for rabbit meat, especially from hotels and restaurants.

"We had deals with three hotels to supply 100 rabbits a day, but we couldn’t sustain that volume,” he said, noting the need to supply more farmers with quality breeds to increase national meat production.

He sees opportunity both locally and abroad. China, for instance, imports up to 900,000 tonnes of rabbit meat annually, and prices in Europe can reach €40 (about Rwf65,000) per kilogram.

"Rabbit meat is white, protein-rich, low in fat—and the demand is growing. We need more investment in this sector,” he urged.

Local impact and expansion

Musoni’s farm employs 30 people, including nine permanent staff, in roles ranging from fodder handling to veterinary services.

One of them is veterinarian Shaddad Rutikanga, who described his work as both professionally enriching and financially empowering.

"I work under contract, can apply for loans, and I’m gaining deep experience in a field I’m passionate about,” Rutikanga said.

Leonidas Nsengiyumva, a farmer from Kirehe District, purchased 10 Hycole rabbits from Musoni’s farm for Rwf400,000. Within a month, their weight grew from 2.5kg to four kilos. Encouraged by the results, he has ordered 20 more.

"They are more expensive than local breeds, but the productivity—number of kits, growth rate—is worth it,” he said.

Scaling up

Currently focused on breed distribution, Musoni’s farm produces between 1,500 and 3,000 kits monthly. His goal is to scale up to between 15,000 and 30,000 kits per month.

"From January 2026, we plan to also produce five to 10 tonnes of rabbit meat monthly,” he revealed. "Only with more commercial farmers can we export meat to markets like China and Europe.”

Rwanda’s largest rabbit breeding operation

According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, Rwanda had more than 660,000 rabbits in 2023–2024.

Musoni’s farm is the only large-scale breeding operation in the country, according to Solange Uwituze, Deputy Director General in charge of Animal Resources Development at Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board.

"Musoni’s rabbit breeding farm has an implication in increasing the population of rabbits in Rwanda,” she said of the implication of his farm.

She observed that rabbit farming has great potential due to high reproduction rates, fast growth, and the ability to thrive on diverse feed sources, indicating that, in Rwanda, it has significant potential as a sustainable and profitable venture.

In terms of food security, she said rabbit meat is a high-quality, low-fat source of protein, which can be crucial in addressing malnutrition and food insecurity in areas with limited access to animal protein.

The government, she said, is committed to improving rabbit breeding, nutrition, disease management, and biosecurity.