Rising Insect farming: Black Soldier Fly

A strong stench of decomposing organic waste welcomes one at the farm where a group of youths are rearing the black soldier flies for larvae and organic manure.

If not careful, thousands of the excited houseflies vigorously hovering in huge swarms around containers they feed from at the organic refuse store can easily find their way into someone's mouth or nose.

The farm situated at Gianche Village in Kemera Ward, Nyamira County is run under the umbrella of Power-Hive East Africa, a non-governmental organisation investing in agriculture and power supply.

Those involved in the project are mainly young graduates leading villagers in seeking to eke a living out of the application of what they learned in college.

Abigael Githeka and Felix Ombati, graduates in agribusiness play a lead role in the project that is also steered by other young people from the village.

Here, the organic material which is more often collected from public dump sites, schools, butcheries and marketplaces is fermented and allowed to rot before it is mixed and put into crates where eggs obtained from adult flies hatch.

The process of obtaining the eggs is a technical one that involves stocking the male and female adult flies in special cages called love cages that are specially designed for the flies to mate and lay eggs.

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There are special improvised chambers where the female flies hatch the eggs. Compartments are made using hard carton materials or wooden slabs that are joined together but with minimum space in between them forming darkened chambers where the female flies lay their eggs.

After the farmers are certain that eggs have been laid in the chambers, they are removed and taken to incubation crates where they are hatched before being transferred to other crates that usually are stacked with the rotten organic material that makes the best feed for the hatched larvae.

The larvae then grow for a period of 10 days in the crates of food until they start turning into pupae.

By the time they turn dark grey in color, the forming insects are mature for harvesting.

Harvesting the pupae from the crates full of leftovers of the food for the larvae is such an easy undertaking since, as they mature, the growing pupae tend to hide away from light and therefore burrow into the food to find the bottom surface.

The harvester only needs to carefully remove the food remains from the crate while ensuring those pupae that have yet to hide deeper are left in the crate.

The mature pupae are then collected into clean crates where they are washed before being subjected to hot water.

"After dipping them into the hot water, we transfer them to the drying chambers where they are dried before being packed ready for sale," explains Abigael Githeka, one of the youths involved in the project.

The manure collected after harvesting of pupae is heaped together, dried and ground before it is packed and sold to farmers.

A kilo of the organic fertiliser goes for Sh30 while a kilo of the dried black soldier fly pupae costs Sh130.

According to Githeka, in a good month, they can produce up to 1,000 kilos of dried pupae and a total of up to five tonnes of manure, making it a reasonable net profit.

"We incur minimal costs of production and this makes it better for us. For example, we don't buy organic waste. Institutions that we have partnered with have reached an agreement that we help them manage their waste," says Felix Ombati, an agribusiness expert who is also running the project.

The only cost they incur is buying blood from butcheries, which they say is a key component in the diet of the larvae.

Poultry farmers are their main clients as well as manufacturers of nutritional formulae for malnourished children.

"The demand, especially from farmers, is so high that we are devising extra mechanisms of multiplying our level of production," Gladwell Momanyi, the Liaison Manager of the initiative says.

Organic manure is also a hot cake within the village and beyond. "We get orders in advance and farmers who have used the fertiliser are so much satisfied and always come for more," Githeka says.

Philip Otwori, a farmer, says yields have tripled on his two-acre land courtesy of the organic manure.

"It is the best in planting crops. I have tested it and I don't think I will ever need the commercial fertilisers," Otwori says.

The venture is among many other agricultural enterprises which are being funded by the Sustainable Agricultural Sector Development Support Programme (ASDSP).

The programme supports initiatives aimed at promoting food and nutritional security as well as manufacturing.

Nyamira County Executive for Agriculture Alice Manoti says funding for innovative agricultural programs in the county has helped many farmers who are working in organised groups with financial resources to run their ventures that will be key in increasing agricultural production.

"It is encouraging that the number of organisations coming out for help is rapidly increasing. We are still seeking to help more such people with innovative initiatives to increase their economic capabilities through support," Manoti says.

For Abigael and Felix, the focus is on a larger matrix of expansion of their agribusiness venture.

"We want to be mega producers of the black soldier fly larvae and our ultimate target is the export market," Ombati says.