Black soldier fly larvae farming as an alternative livestock feed has gained interest among many farmers. Due to the harshness of the current economy, youth, and women’s involvement in Agriculture is being widely recognized, and encouraged in every corner of our country. Despite this recognition, and encouragement of youth, and women to join Agriculture, they face the great challenge of limited, and lack of capital to purchase feeds for livestock, especially protein feeds due to their high prices for those willing to venture into livestock farming.
Competition for protein food between humans, and livestock.
Due to the challenges of weather changes, Kenya does not produce large quantities of protein-rich food such as soya beans to sustain both human and livestock consumption. Likewise, fish meal, which is another option for protein feeds, recently faced the challenge of overfishing. Stiff competition for protein food between humans and livestock causes this.
For this reason, Kenyan farmers depend on imported feeds which face high taxation resulting in high prices of these feeds. This limits the involvement of youths, and women, in farming.
Alternative solutions
Toward achieving the goal of involving youth, and women in Agriculture, several sustainable farming practices are being introduced to empower them to start a small venture to aid them economically. One of these sustainable methods of farming is black soldier fly larvae farming.
Black Soldier fly farming has shown promising results as an alternative solution toward achieving high-protein feeds for livestock which is cost-effective, sustainable, and finally environmentally friendly. In addition, black soldier fly farming supplies farmers with rich nutrient feeds throughout the year at a cheaper cost.
Process of Black Soldier fly larvae production.
Breeding, and larval development.
For farmers to start BSF farming, first they need to establish a breeding colony by creating a conducive environment for the BSF to mate and lay eggs. Farmers can achieve these in two ways;
- First, attract the wild BSF flies. With a suitable attractant, farmers can attract wild BSF to come and lay eggs, which are used to establish the breeding colony.
- Second, farmers can purchase BSF eggs or larvae from already established farms.
For the BSF to lay eggs they need an attractant, normally they lay their eggs in a stinky smelly environment, e.g., decomposing kitchen leftovers. Farmers place stinky substrate, in a container, and on the top of the substrate, small pieces of timber tied together. The BSF lays eggs on these pieces of timber. Lastly, the black soldier’s fly needs an adequate source of water.
Black Soldier Fly Eggs collection
The farmer carefully removes the pieces of timber from the breeding cage. Farmers should gently scrape the eggs from the timber to avoid damaging them.
Black soldier fly Eggs inoculation
From here, introduce eggs into a suitable medium, such as a moist wheat bran or chicken feed. These eggs hatch into tiny larvae called 1st instar larvae in about 4 to 5 days.
Separating the 1st instar larvae
In the next stage, farmers should separate 1st instar larvae, and introduce them in different containers with suitable media such as kitchen waste, decaying fruits such as mangoes, avocados, and vegetables such as tomatoes.
Black soldier fly larvae feeding.
At this stage, the larvae feed vigorously turning from 1st instar to 5th instar larvae to pre pupa to pupa, and finally adults within a period of 4 to 5 weeks.
Black soldier fly larvae Crawling stage
At the pupa stage, the larvae stop feeding and start turning black. They also start crawling away from the feed substrates.
Black soldier fly larvae dormant stage
After moving away from the feed, the pre-pupa turns into a pupa, which is a dormant stage. The pupa neither moves nor eats. In fact, they remain dormant as if they are dead for 3 to 4 days. The pupa is black.
Black soldier fly larvae Pupation stage
Transfer pupa into the breeding cage made of insect nets. Inside the breeding cage, the pupa lasts for 3 to 4 days, and they pupate into adult BSF flies.
Black soldier fly larvae Adult stage
At the adult stage, the BSF flies depend on water only as their food. Therefore, inside the breeding cage, an adequate supply of water is provided in such a way that the flies only suck water indirectly. The water basin provided in the breeding cage is forced with material that allows water capillarity, therefore the flies suck water from these materials.
Mating stage
Inside the breeding cage, an attractant such as rotting kitchen waste is provided to attract the flies to lay eggs in a wooden timber placed on the top of this attractant.
Inside this cage, the flies mate, and the females lay eggs within a life span of 4 to 5 days, after which both die. One female can lay 400 to 900 eggs.
The wooden timber where the eggs are laid is removed from the breeding cage. The eggs are then collected by gently scraping them from wooden timber, to avoid damaging them, and finally introduced into a suitable media such as 70% moist wheat bran or chicken feeds.
Tips:
1. The ideal temperature for BSF breeding is 27 to 30 degrees Celsius.
2. The larvae feed should be at 70% moist.
3. Build a breeding cage using an insect net, with quarter-inch holes to prevent Predators.
4. Always maintain aerobic reactions in the feeds.
Black soldier fly larvae harvesting
After two weeks of vigorously feeding on organic waste, the larvae can be harvested in the 4th instar stage. At this stage, the larvae have the highest protein content and have also reached the maximum weight. Beyond this stage, the larvae start turning color into pre-pupa, and protein content starts decreasing as they stop feeding. Separated larvae from organic residues using sieves mesh or screen.
Sterilization and drying of the larvae.
Farmers use boiling water to kill the larvae, and also sterilize them.
Drying BSF larvae.
Sun-drying is the effective and economical method of drying the larvae farmers use. Live larvae contain 70% moisture content and 30% dry matter. This high moisture content causes the oxidation of lipids, and the breakdown of enzymes and protein, which triggers microbial growth (Rahman, 2007). In order to get good results sundry larvae for 2 to 3 days. Storage of well-dried larvae is for up to 45 days. (Connella at etl 2016).
Conclusion
In conclusion, as vulnerable farmers especially youth and women strive to venture into more sustainable, and cost-effective livestock farming, black soldiers fly farming stands out as a promising, and eco-friendly solution for producing high-quality protein feeds for livestock. By harnessing the incredible reproduction of black soldier fly larvae, and their high nutritional content, young farmers can;
First, minimize the cost of production. secondly, maximize the general health, and performance of their livestock, and finally contribute to a more sustainable, and eco-friendly production system.
As a result, the competition for protein foods between livestock, and humans as mentioned above can be minimized. Moreover, black soldier fly farming ensures feed production throughout the year. Lastly, embracing this innovative technique in livestock production not only benefits farmers but also creates a positive impact on the environment.
REFERENCES
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