Edible snail farming in Serbia: Present and future

Abstract

Snail farming is a type of sustainable animal production, which could become an important source of incomes for the country, and prevent further exhaustion of natural snail populations. It has raised considerable public attention in Serbia. There are over 350 newly registered snail farms that have started production in the past couple of years. The idea of snail farming in Serbia is strongly and erroneously influenced by media, often presented as an low investment cycle, low manpower, and a very advantageous side activity. On the other hand export of snails collected from natural populations has been very profitable in the past decade despite the economic blockade of the country during the 90s. In this paper, beginnings of snail farming in Serbia, problems of investments, production and protection technology, and marketing are discussed. The need of regulation is pointed out.