can easily be found; you don’t need to dig deep. In every other place, you really have to dig deep to get the crickets. When we did the study in Atani, Anambra State, we had to dig deep and then pour water into the pit before the crickets came up. But in this case, as soon as they identify those trees, if you dig a little, you find the crickets; so they dig them out in their numbers and sell in the market.
Another study we are doing which we submitted to TeTfund and to our Technology Innovation Centre, is the Black Soldier Fly Larva. This is an insect that can multiply in millions within five days and because of that, most countries including Ghana, Kenya and Cameroun, have established Black Soldier Fly Larva farms. The larva appears like the bigger form of maggot. They use it to replace fish meal used in producing fish feed and all livestock feed.
in tons. They produce it under a kind of climate control chamber because of their climate. We were told that our climate in the tropics is the best because it requires 28o Celsius and high humidity and that is what we have almost all year. We have our ambient temperature at around 27o Celsius and so we don’t need any climate chamber so ours will just multiply naturally.
You find out that the more you produce these animals, the more the fecal material and this fecal material produces nitrous oxide which is a potent greenhouse gas; so FAO is saying that instead of focusing on producing more animals that have negative effects on the climate, we should augment to a large extent, with edible insects because they are environment-friendly, more nutritious than other animal protein sources and most importantly, have most of the essential fatty acids and not the ones...
The FAO and WHO have been promoting edible insects and the use of some other insects because here, we are talking of the Black Soldier Fly Larva, in some places, it might be other insects but they are talking of replacing fish meal in fish feed and livestock feed so that the cost will be reduced and the product more affordable.