Insects, a cheap and sustainable protein alternative for stockfeeds

GOOD nutrition is essential for profitable poultry production studies, however, show that, feed is beyond the reach of many small-holder farmers in Africa, since it constitutes 70% of the total costs of production. These exorbitant costs of feed are largely driven by high prices and scarcity of fishmeal and soya. Africa accounts for less than 1% of the global soya production, hence it is a net importer of not only soya but also fishmeal.

These costs are not sustainable for small-holder poultry farmers across Africa. Prices of these two protein sources have continued to increase unabated over the past five years.

This has pushed the market prices of animal and animal products up, affecting the accessibility of animal-based protein for many people across the continent.

Zimbabwe produces 71 290 tonnes of soya annually which is just 30% of its national demand. The difference is imported.

Rwanda on the other hand, imports protein raw materials for animal feed, like soybeans, often at high prices.

“Between 2019 and 2022, prices rose by over 130%, from US$0,44 per kilogramme to US$1,01 per kilogramme in 2022, forcing farmers to make do with lower nutrient feeds,” explained Solange Uwituze, the deputy director general of the Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board.

The situation is not any better in Kenya.

“Kenya requires about 70 000 metric tonnes of soybean per year, but the supply hardly reaches 15 000 metric tonnes. And the competition for human consumption has made things worse,” explains Jo Ryan, interim CEO for True Trade Africa, a social enterprise providing smallholder farmers with a route to market and fair prices for their produce.

COVID-19 has compounded the situation

Food supply disruptions, failure to access labour, fertilizers and seeds have also led to major effects on poultry and livestock production.

A 2021 Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) report on the impacts of COVID-19 on Africa notes that in Western Africa, most livestock markets were closed during the pandemic and this caused a drop in the supply of cattle and other small ruminants.

These food supply disruptions, caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic have hampered access to nutritional foods especially in Africa.

Further, moderate and severe food insecurity rose from 51% in 2019 to 75% in 2020 in Nigeria and from 43% to 49% in South Africa during the same period, added the FAO report.

Due to food insecurity, a 2020 report shows that, 1 in every 5 people in Sub-Saharan Africa are undernourished.

This calls for innovative solutions to promote food production and cushion smallholder farmers against climate and other external shocks such as COVID-19.

The cost of wheat, another important nutritional variable in Africa’s food basket, has also been affected by the recent Russo-Ukraine war.

Zimbabwe, for instance, imports half of its wheat from Russia. The war is likely to increase food prices in Zimbabwe and lead to a reduction in the consumption of nutritional diets.

A FAO regional overview of food security and nutrition 2020 report recommends the transformation of food systems to lower the costs of production and make healthy diets more accessible for all.

A cheap solution to Africa’s food and nutrition problems

Black soldier fly (BSF) larvae is a low-cost protein source in animal feed production generating interest across Africa.

One can produce the BSF larvae from animal manure or vegetable waste or a combination of both. Larvae will be fully dried and ready for use as animal feed in 22-24 days, a very short period when compared to the traditional protein alternative soya, which takes no less than 6 months to be ready for use.

UKaid in Zimbabwe has been funding efforts towards the production of black soldier fly larvae as a low-cost intervention to support poultry, fish and pig farmers in Zimbabwe.

UKaid also supported the training of extension workers and the setting up of demo sites so that communities may learn and adopt this low-cost protein source for poultry production.

“I see a lot of NGOs training small-holder farmers on the use of black soldier fly in animal feed and I know it is a new area but I am impressed by how farmers have adopted it and how even the government has adopted the use of black soldier fly in Zimbabwe,” said Lesley Macheka an insects researcher based in Zimbabwe.

With support from UKaid, Chinhoyi University of Technology has trained a lot of farmers on the use of the black soldier fly and later this year Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in Zimbabwe will start the rearing of crickets for feed.

“I see a huge potential in this area. To increase uptake, we need to publicise this cheap protein alternative through the media so that we reach all facets of our economy,” Macheka added.

Out of the need for cheaper chicken feed for his poultry project, Shem Awiri decided to start a BSF project within his farm located in Lukenya, Machakos County, some 100 kilometres from Kenya’s capital, Nai- robi.

Bugs Life Protein farm has now become a supplier of dry weight BSF larvae not just for its chicken project, but also sells to a local animal feed company.

“We grow high quality protein and feed and believe in sustaining the virtuous cycle so the chicken excrete manure which is fed to the insects, and the insects convert the manure and excess feed waste into protein,” said Awiri.

The BSF section is housed in two large greenhouses each measuring 42m by 8m, as well as a warehouse within their 20-acre farm.

Here, they produce one tonne of dry weight BSF larvae per month.

“From whatever we produce, we feed half of it to our poultry and the other half we sell to a local animal feed company. We also produce BSF eggs for breeding, which we sell to upcoming local farmers. After the final harvesting stage, the bio waste excretion is used as fertilizer,” explains Awiri.

In Tanzania, Otaigo Elisha, runs NovFeed BSF farm, located in the coastal city of Dar es Salam.

For the past five years, the company has been supporting local small fish farmers, by developing a low-cost, sustainable fish feed. The farm raises black soldier fly maggots, dries and grinds them into a high-protein powder.

As an alternative, he said, many fish farmers formulated their own feed on-site using seasonal ingredients and silver cyprinid (omena) in small batches.

“This also perpetuated the gap in affordable and quality farmed fish for consumers to buy, which impacted the health and well-being of low-income Tanzanian households,” he adds. This work was supported by a Global Nutrition and Food Security Reporting Fellowship from the International Centre for Journalists and the Eleanor Crook Foundation. Read full article on www.newsday.co.zw