A survey on the working conditions of small-scale rabbit farms in Hungary

Hungary's rabbit meat output is produced in small-scale enterprises almost completely. Therefore it is obviously important to survey the working conditions and level of management on these farms from time to time. For this reason, a questionnaire was published in the Hungarian Small Producers' Journal. 550 questionnaires proper for evaluation were returned to the authors. As a whole it can be stated that the housing conditions have improved during the recent 5 years as far as both the buildings and the cages are concerned. Unfortunately. no improvement can be detected in the aspects of breeding. This is especially true for the breed composition of the stock. The proportion of genetically poorer breeds has become a lot greater, whereas the number of growing rabbits sold from one doe has decreased. Many new producers are unemployed and start the operation with the aim of making some extra money. Most of them give up soon because of lack of knowledge and poor profitability. Even more trained producers think to reduce farm size if the economic conditions don't turn for the better very soon.