Twenty-five-year-old Talash Huijbers has a special connection with waste and insects. Give her waste (rotten food and fruits) and she will turn it into a fertile breeding ground for Black Soldier Fly (BSF) and ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/news/article/2001303539/fancy-crickets-new-edible-species-soon-to-be-served">crickets< for the production of high protein feed for animals and organic fertiliser.
InsectiPro, founded by Talash in 2017, drew the attention of President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2019. The President made a tour of the farm to see for himself the marvelous innovation that had been highly spoken about.
Getting attention from the highest office in the country is no mean achievement, she says. She recalls receiving a call at 9am on a Sunday from the President’s handlers, notifying her that the Head of State would be stopping by the Limuru farm in a few days.
“Oh my! I could not believe it. I lived each moment of the preparation in a dream. My excitement and that of everyone else in the farm was fever pitch as the D-Day approached,” recollects the youthful entrepreneur. What she thought would be a 30-minute quick tour, turned out to be five-hour visit.
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The President who had been briefed about our innovation by senior State officials wanted to see first-hand the innovation that could potentially impact Kenya’s food security says Talash.
Patient president
On the material day, everything was seamless. Her 65 employees were humbled at the President’s patient and down-to-earth nature as he keenly followed the production stages.
“I was humbled at the President’s acceptance to attend the official launch of InsectiPro that will be happening any time soon.”
The farm has also been toured by many VIPs among them former Cabinet Secretary Mwangi Kiunjuri. So what is so fascinating about this farm?
Inside the 240-acre farm in Red Hill, the team has lined up rows of greenhouses. Talash explains that the green houses are a family business venture. Her InsectiPro farm occupies less than two acres.
“I have billions of black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens) and crickets,” Talash says. The innovative entrepreneur believes that through InsectiPro, she can reduce the 2,000 tonnes of organic waste produced every day in Nairobi.
“="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/news/article/2001303539/fancy-crickets-new-edible-species-soon-to-be-served">The insects< (BSF and crickets) lay billions of eggs that go through a delicate breeding process to hatch into larvae. This is sold as a source of high protein to feed manufacturers and as protective food, a source of high protein and zinc,” says Talash.
At home with flies
At the entrance, of a huge housing unit, the team sanitises hands and feet (shoes) – not to bring any bacteria into the cricket-housing unit. Inside, there are hundreds of plastic crates that house millions of crickets that are under 24/7 surveillance.
“We have arranged the trays strategically. This is because at the laying stage, we want to collect as many eggs as possible for the incubation stage,” explains Tanasha.
The eggs are kept in the hatchery for a week on controlled temperature and humidity. Upon hatching, the delicate tiny crickets are fed on chick mash, and five weeks later, are ready for harvesting at pre-adult stage (before developing wings). The pre-adult crickets are transferred into a freezer and being cold-blooded, they die fast.
“From the freezer, they go to the microwave while wet, and come out crunchy like the ones I am eating,” says Talash with a smile.
The crickets, are now ready for sale and can be eaten (roasted, fried), or added to fortify foods such as flour.
The production process is intriguing. Inside the cages, the flies are gently buzzing.
="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business-news/article/2001387560/kenya-harnesses-fly-larvaes-appetite-to-process-food-waste">Black Soldier Flies< cannot fly far, do not have mouths, and have a life span of seven days. The staff must ensure the flies are healthy to lay maximum eggs. The billions of eggs are carefully collected and transferred into a hatching unit for seven days upon which they will have hatched into larvae. The larvae are fed a diet of waste that has been processed to ensure it is rich in nutrients.
Interestingly, for the Black Soldier Flies in the larvae stage, they have the Superman-like ability to transform waste into high-quality protein. This is then used as alternative protein additives in animal feed, this translates into an inexpensive, clean and sustainable food source.
From waste to gold
Talash, who is half-Kenyan and half-Dutch, says she got the idea to set up a BSF farm when her family wanted to venture into fish farming. However, they faced a challenge – an expensive enterprise due to expensive fishmeal feed. The only source of the protein needed in the production of fishmeal is omena (Rastrineobola argentea) that is also a staple food.
“Demand from the food and feed markets has led to scarcity of omena, and feed manufacturers are keen to find an alternative,” says Talash.
And so to fill that gap, InsectiPro, collects green waste from Nairobi and turns it into something of high value -animal and human protein.
Before venturing into insect farming, Talash did her homework thoroughly. For instance, she found out that there are about 2,100 insect species that can be used for feed or food consumption and that about two billion people around the world eat insects as part of their diet.
She did a test run
To test the waters, Talash partnered with Douglas Njoroge, a farmer neighbour. She acquired ten piglets, which she used to do initial testing on the impact of BSF feed.
She divided the piglets into groups of five with regular animal feed and a 20, 30, 50, 75, and 100 per cent animal feed replacement with the ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business-news/article/2001387560/kenya-harnesses-fly-larvaes-appetite-to-process-food-waste">protein ingredient of BSF<. The results were astounding. The growth of the piglets fed with higher concentration of BSF protein was faster, and took less time to mature compared to the piglets fed on regular animal feed.
“My piglets take a shorter time to mature, meaning, they are two months early for market. The mature ones take less time to add weight and are ready for market at eight months as opposed to almost a year when feeding on regular feed,” says enthusiastic Njoroge.
Later, Talash did test on Njoroge’s vegetable farm and the results were amazing. With the usage of regular fertiliser, a regular potato produced 22 tubers, while when infused with BSF protein, the tubers yielded 92 tubers. Njoroge was a happy farmer.
“I have not only cut down on fertiliser and feed expenses, but I am reaping more than double from my crops, pig and poultry farming,” says the farmer.
Now tried and tested, they went full throttle. Every day, the farm processes around 20 to 30 tonnes of food and fruit waste to produce between three and five tonnes of larvae, which are then dried and turned into animal feed. Any remaining waste is processed and used as manure, some of it on the farm, and the rest sold to farmers.
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) acknowledges that insect and larvae farming is lucrative business.
“The end product of the waste goes to farms as organic fertiliser, while the larvae is feed to animals,” says Chrysantus Mbi Tanga, a research scientist at Icipe.
InsectiPro got its first batch of BSF and crickets from Icipe. That batch has grown to produce millions of crickets with 10 per cent going back to the cycle while 90 per cent – 100,000kg per day goes to sales.
“We cannot meet the demand for ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/news/article/2001303539/fancy-crickets-new-edible-species-soon-to-be-served">BSF and cricket products< which stands at 210 tonnes per day, but we are expanding,” says the InsectiPro founder.
InspectiPro has partnered with the Rockefeller Foundation to transfer the innovation to 130 amall holder farmers across 10 counties.
“Rockefeller has been working with partners to develop insect farming sector to create sustainable nutritious and profitable systems that will positively change the current food and value chains,” says Josephine Muthoni, Rockefeller Foundation PR manager.
InsectiPro has also partnered with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology on using crickets as a fortifying ingredient to human food.
The challenge so far is that the venture is capital intensive for a startup. Costs like waste processing, breeding, drying, and cooling units are prohibitive. Being entirely new in Kenya means there are few role models. Meanwhile, each day is an experimental day at InsectiPro.
Jgacheri@standardmedia.co.ke
