Crocodile Farming in Zambia

There are many ways of earning a living, but I had never imagined that crocodile farming was one of them. Why farm crocodiles? Surely it is very hazardous to do so. You can’t milk them or take their eggs. As they live in muddy waters, their meat would not be too tasty.
Well, I had lunch a couple of weeks ago with some good friends who had just come back from a holiday in Zambia, visiting relatives, who did indeed have a crocodile farm in Lusaka. On their farm there was large pond containing the crocodiles and other ponds with fish in them. Some of the fish were fed to the crocodiles. The crocs were also fed on food waste collected in the area.
The reason for farming them is for their skins, for which there is apparently a strong demand in Russia, China and other countries in the Far East. Wealthy people in those lands like to wear crocodile coats, as a form of conspicuous affluence. I expect that the skins can also be used for handbags and footwear.
Their meat is sold but only as a bi-product of the main purpose of the enterprise.
Apart from the obvious difficulties of this practice, it is also a long drawn out process, as it takes about six years for a juvenile crocodile to grow large enough to have a skin suitable for sale.
If I had joined my friends on 1st April, I would not have believed their account of their holiday, but, as we met in November, I am convinced that crocodile farming really happens.

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