Scientist bitten by moneymaking bug
Global market for turning insects into animal feed will be worth an estimated R3.3 billion by 2030
DR MICHAEL Woods is possibly the most highly qualified insect farmer in the world.
For his doctorate in animal sciences, he researched how to best care for and feed insects so that they could be farmed on a commercial scale.
The global market for turning insects into animal feed is expected to be worth more than $230 million (about R3.3billion) by 2030.
Woods received his doctorate in Animal Sciences in December at the PhD graduation ceremony of Stellenbosch University’s (SU) Faculty of AgriSciences.
He is the first to obtain a PhD in the mass farming of insects and how to further process them into valuable by-products.
“It’s the fastest-growing agricultural industry in the world right now,” said Woods, who grew up in Saldanha and matriculated at Paarl Boys’ High in 2010.
“We are increasingly realising the value of insects as a food source for farm animals and humans, to control pests and invasive plants, and to help us get rid of waste food and abattoir waste without it having to end up in landfills.
“To make the most of these services, we need to provide enough insects to the market in a sustainable manner and of a consistent quality. That’s where large-scale insect farming comes in,” he said.
As part of his MSc degree he investigated the best possible diets that insect larvae need to provide the best possible end products.
His consulting work in this regard has since taken him to 20 countries.
“To raise insects is quite similar to intensive livestock production. Nutrition plays a major role in the success as well as the cost of insect production. Just like chickens and pigs, insects need certain nutrients to thrive, and this you need to provide in their feed,” Woods said.
“The beauty is that you don’t need a lot of space to farm with them on a large scale.”
A handful of companies in South Africa are already into insect farming, mainly as livestock feed and for pest control purposes.
Woods believes the university’s Susento company is the first to have a “total value chain” approach, as it will be involved in all aspects of insect farming – right to the stages of supplying by-products.
The company will also develop diets for insects that are being mass-bred as part of integrated pest control programmes, or as animal feed, or as food sources.
An experimental unit delivering up to 30kg of black soldier fly larvae a day at the SU Faculty of AgriSciences’ Mariendahl Experimental Farm outside Stellenbosch is being run by Woods.
Susento is planning a pilot facility producing one ton of larvae per day at Mariendahl, and also has plans for processing by-product from this.
Thereafter, Woods hopes to roll out more sizable units.
“They are as harmless as earthworms,” said Woods.
His supervisor, Dr Elsje Pieterse of the SU Department of Animal Sciences, is one of the world’s leading experts in insect farming. She grew up on a farm in Namibia and has, since her student days more than 30 years ago, dabbled with the idea of using insects as an alternative, less water-intensive and less water-polluting source of protein in poultry feed.
“You can do large-scale insect farming on a very small piece of land. It’s possible to produce up to 7 500 times more protein on a hectare compared to one hectare of soya. Insect farming is also much less water intensive.
“In fact, when farming with black soldier flies, there is a net gain of water because the water vapour they produce can be harvested by means of condensation,” Pieterse said.