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Judith Phiri Bulawayo Bureau
A team from the World Bank Group visited Matopos Research Institute on a familiarisation tour on Friday to gain an appreciation of the specialised institute’s innovation through the use of insects as alternative protein source (mealworms).
As the demand for animal feed continues to rise, more research is being carried out to find alternative feed due to limited availability of natural resources, continued climate change and food-feed-fuel competition.
The growing global need for alternative and sustainable protein sources has warranted research in the field of unconventional foodstuffs such as insect-based diets/feeds.
In an interview on the sidelines of the familiarisation tour on Friday, Matopos Research Institute head, Mr Tendai Matekenya said as an alternative for blood meal they came up with a mealworm.
“In September 2017 the risk assessment trial was conducted using a commercial diet and five percent mealworms. However, the trial failed to give conclusive results due to a number of technical issues,” he said.
“In April to June 2018 the first phase of trial was successfully set whereby Lilongwe University of Natural Resource (LUANAR) was replacing fishmeal as protein sources with mealworms in the diet of Tilapia fish and the South African partner (Scaled Impact) was the producer of mealworms.”
Mr Matekenya said Matopos Research Institute executed its research on the key component of replacing blood meal in the diets of broilers so that insects can be utilised as animal protein sources in poultry.
A further assessment was done through a second trial in October/November 2018, he said.
Both institutions (Matopos Research Institute and LUANAR) concluded that the mealworm could successfully be utilised as an alternative protein source for both fish and poultry diets.
Mr Matekenya said in 2021, the mealworm starter diet was registered as a feed for poultry in Zimbabwe under Farm Feeds.
“Currently from August, a mealworm trial was set to establish as a replacement of blood meal in the grower and finisher diets,” he said.
“The trial was completed after 35 days, meat sensory evaluations were done and a second production trial for the grower and finisher diets is on plan.”
Mr Matekenya said after the familiarisation tour, they were looking forward to collaboration with the World Bank mission team and South Korean experts who specialise in edible insects as an alternative food ingredient.
He said this will go a long way to amplify their work under the guidance of their parent ministry. World Bank lead agriculture economist and task team leader, Dr Dorte Verner, said insect farming could create a circular food economy by reusing society’s organic waste, including agricultural and certain industrial waste, to produce foods for humans, fish, and livestock without the need for vast amounts of arable land or water resources.
“As World Bank we are working with different partners to produce insects for food, feed and fertilisers and we are working mainly on black soldier flies and a bit on mealworms,” she said.
“In Zimbabwe we are working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) at Tongogara Refugee Camp for insect farming, we already have a strong collaboration with the Zimbabwean government.”
Dr Verner said insect farming requires little space, unlike other animal production systems, while small-scale insect farms can be housed in homes or small shelters.
Scientific researcher of the Industrial insect and sericulture division in the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences of South Korea’s Rural Development Administration (RDA), Dr Kwanho Park said in their country the number of companies raising or processing insects for food, pets and other purposes continues to rise and they were also exporting to other countries on the globe. He said if done properly there was a lot of potential in insect farming and there was a need to apply smart technologies to improve their productivity.
Online Reporter