Get set for a whole insects meal as university wins Sh600m funding

Mexican prehispanic meal of crickets and vegetables

Imagine sitting at a restaurant and asking to be served some hot grasshopper cake and a cold glass of juice.

Or request to be offered crickets muffin, a piece of termites biscuit and hot lemon tea, or better still, order for a chapatti baked by sifted flour from lake flies.

These sets of delicacies will soon be added to the menu of your favourite restaurant as a local university just won an Sh600 million World Bank bid to improve the nutritive value of the dining table. Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST) won the Africa Centre of Excellence bid in Insects for Food and Feeds (insefood).

Under the project, the university research team led by Prof Monica Ayieko will produce insect food products such as porridge flour, biscuits, muffins, chapati, baked bread or ugali flour drawn from edible insects.

“The edible insects food stuffs have high nutritive value for all of us but most importantly for children,” said Prof Prof Stephen Agong, JOOUST Vice Chancellor.

He asked Kenyans to brace for an enriched dining table with the entry of the new food stock.

“Lake Victoria harbours plenty of nutritious insects including crickets, which haven’t been tapped for consumption. Crickets are rich in zinc and are a great immune booster, especially for children and the sick,” said Prof Agong. The university if one of the three public-funded institutions that won the lucrative Sh1.8 billion project that will be implemented for the next five years.

Award to university

Moi University and Egerton University are the other two winners of centres of excellence launched this week by World Bank Vice President in charge of Human Development, Keith Hansen.

Also present was Education Cabinet Secretary Fred Matang’i and Principal Secretary, State Department of Higher Education, Prof Collette Suda.

The award took place on the sidelines of the Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) conference at a Nairobi hotel.

Egerton University won the Centre of Excellence on Sustainable Agriculture and Agribusiness Management (cesaam) and the Centre of excellence in Phytochemicals Textiles and Renewable Energy at Moi University.

Each of the three universities was awarded the Sh600 million to facilitate research, develop human resource potential and support communities by creating jobs.

This means that the three universities beat the 71 public and private universities to win the research project that called for applications in 2015.

Speaking to the Sunday Standard, Prof Laban Ayiro vice chancellor Moi University said the institution won on the area of textile, energy and phytochemicals.

“Using Rivatex factory which also serves as a teaching facility as well as business entity, we were able to win the bid,” he said.

Prof Ayiro said the university is has PhD students from across the continent doing research that will propel Kenya and revise industrialization in Africa.

He said the money will be used to set up robust extension services that will see farmers in Siaya, Tana River and Marigat grow cotton.

“We have been importing cotton from Tanzania and we want to encourage farmers under a well thought out program. We need massive inputs for cotton for textile industry for Rivatex, which has already received Sh3 billion inputs for new machines,” he said.

Prof Ayiro said the project will employ an additional 800 people. But what will shock many Kenyans is the insect foods project being undertaken by JOOUST.

“This is an industry we are setting up for farmers, processors, consumers marketers, packagers of the insets as food nutrients,” said Prof Agong.

He said the insects have been divided into two–food for humans and livestock. “Under food for human beings we have termites, crickets, lake flies and grasshopper while dragonfly will cater for livestock and fish feeds,” said Prof Agong.