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ABSTRACT
The study of the assessment of African giant land snail (Archachatina marginata) utilization was carried out in Akoko North West local government area, Ondo State, Nigeria. The study evaluated the reasons why people utilize snails and the factors affecting its utilization, demand, supply and prices of snails, various methods of preserving and processing snails, and the willingness to engage in snail farming. Purposive sampling was used to select six (6) villages out of eighteen (18) villages in the local government area. Thirty (30) households were randomly selected in each of the six (6) villages and a copy of questionnaire was administered to each household making a total of one hundred and eighty (180) copies of questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency and percentages. The results revealed that 90% of the respondents utilize snails while 10% do not utilize snails. The majority of the respondents (88.55%) utilize snails for consumption while the least (1.20% utilize them for ornament. A high proportion of the respondents (74.56%) preserve their snails by storing them alive while the least (5.33%) preserve the snails by freezing them. Frying had the highest value of 68.18%, boiling 18.18%, smoking 10.23% while oven drying had the least value of 3.41% of the methods of processing snails. The results also revealed that majority of the respondents (35.56%) reported that the prices of snails is moderate while the least (1.67%) said it is low. Majority of the respondents (45.27%) get snails from the market while the least (4.94%) get from snail farmers. 59.44% of the respondents are aware of snail farming while the least (10.56%) are not aware. A high proportion of the respondents (85.56%) do not have a snail farm while 14.44% have a snail farm. It was recommended that relevant stakeholders should carry out a campaign to sensitize the public of the importance of snail farming in order to conserve the snails in the wild.
