New stock feed promotes low income farming

THE Livelihoods and Food Security Programme which is promoting the use of worms as stock feed is set to promote low cost input sustainable agriculture among resource poor communities.

This was revealed during the Dambanda Farmers’ Day held in Mutasa recently where at least 100 farmers attended.

In an interview on the sidelines of the event, LFSP programmes manager for Mutasa District, Mr Gift Dzitiro, said most farmers cannot afford livestock feed and this project will come in handy.

“Our farmers have been complaining about high costs of stock feed especially chicken feed. We came up with a solution where we are encouraging farmers to produce their own feed though breeding the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) to produce worms. We believe it is more sustainable,” said Mr Dzitiro.

He said the worms are high in protein and can help substitute stock feeds.

“We believe the protein component that is produced by the fly can substitute the bulk of the feeds. This is how it came about and we are now promoting it across the district.

“Over 250 farmers are involved in the project. This project is basically a structure where the BSF can breed and once it breeds, we are able to harvest the larvae from the feeding pit,” he said.

Mr Dzitiro added that the feed can either be fed directly to chickens or fish.

“We can either feed them directly to chickens or fish. However, with more harvest, we can crush them into standard chicken feed together with other components. For you to be able to trap it, you need to have the correct material that attract it such as rotten garbage which produces a strong odour,” he said.

BSF larvae is also used on compost waste or convert the waste into animal feed. Fly larvae are among the most efficient animals at converting feed into biomass. The wastes include fresh manure and food wastes of both animal and vegetable origin.