Working at a giant snail’s pace a boon for Ivorian farmers | Business and Economy

They may weigh a maximum of 500 grammes (one pound) and only grow to 10 centimetres (four inches), but the farming of giant snails is proving to be big business in the Ivory Coast.

Considered a delicacy for their tasty flesh, the giant snails are also used to make cosmetics manufactured from their slime and shells.

But nearly 90 percent of the West African country’s forests have disappeared over the last 60 years, something which, together with the widespread use of pesticides, has decimated wild snails’ natural habitat.

Most forest has been lost to agricultural production in the…