Sustainable Use of Insects to Improve Livestock Production and Food Security in Smallholder Farms in West Africa (IFWA)
| Responsable du projet |
Marc Kenis
Marion Fresia Alexandre Aebi |
| Résumé |
In West Africa, smallholder poultry and fish farmers suffer from the
increasing cost of feed. Many of them do not have access to feed
protein sources, resulting in quantitative and qualitative feed
shortages affecting production of meat, eggs and fish, and reducing
family income. A solution to develop sustainable household poultry
farming and aquaculture systems is the use of untapped local,
easily available and cheap protein sources. Insects, which are a
natural food source of poultry and fish, are one such source.
Insects are rich in protein as well as other valuable nutrient, and
can be mass produced locally and on-farm. Fly larvae have the
advantage to many other insects of feeding on organic waste
material. The most promising and commonly used species for feed are
the house fly and the black soldier fly. Termites are another type
of insects that can be used for animal feed. Although the use of
fly larvae and termites for poultry and fish nutrition is
promising, several issues have to be solved before the methods
become widely adopted by smallholder farmers. In particular:
on-farm fly larvae production and termite collection systems need
to be optimised; the nutritional suitability of the insects for
poultry and fish needs to be further assessed; the safety of insect
rearing systems and insect-based feed needs to be evaluated for
animal and human health; the capacity of fly larvae to recycle
waste in smallholder farms and the value of residues from on-farm
rearing systems need to be considered; the impacts on household
nutrition, income and livelihoods needs to be assessed; the
acceptability of eating animals fed with insects may have to be
improved; the use of insects as animal feed needs to be promoted
within the context of national policies. |
| Mots-clés |
Food security, Insects, Sustainable development, West Africa, Benin, Ghana, Burkina Faso, production d'insectes, production de larves de mouches, collecte des termites, production locale, développement durable, aliments à base d'insectes, sources de protéines locales, alimentation animale, sécurité alimentaire |
| Page internet | http://www.r4d.ch/modules/food-security/insects-as-feed |
| Type de projet | Recherche appliquée |
| Domaine de recherche | Ethnologie, agrifood studies |
| Source de financement | FNS, Programme R4D Food security |
| Etat | Terminé |
| Début de projet | 1-1-2017 |
| Fin du projet | 1-12-2020 |
| Autre information |
Site Web du projet IFWA: http://www.insectsasfeed.org/ |
| Contact | Olivia Filippini |