Edible insects can diversify diets, improve livelihoods, contribute to food and nutrition security and have a lower ecological footprint as compared to other sources of protein. These potential benefits combined with a heightened interest in exploring alternative sources of food that are both nutritious and environmentally sustainable are spurring commercial production of insects as food and animal feed.
Consumer interest in edible insects has been rising in recent years and that has driven a traditional, but local, industry in Southeast Asia to expand to meet increasing global demand.
“ The concept of insect agriculture may seem foreign to the average person, the industry is predicted to grow rapidly at a CAGR of 27.8%.”
Emerging Insect Farming
Trends towards 2050 predict a steady population increase to 9 billion people, forcing an increased food/feed output from available agro-ecosystems resulting in an even greater pressure on the environment. Scarcities of agricultural land, water, forest, fishery and biodiversity resources, as well as nutrients and non-renewable
energy are foreseen.
“Insects have a high food conversion rate, e.g. crickets need six times less feed than cattle, four times less than sheep, and twice less than pigs and broiler chickens to produce the same amount of protein."”
Insects contain high quality protein, vitamins and amino acids for humans. Insects have a high food conversion rate, e.g. crickets need six times less feed than cattle, four times less than sheep, and twice less than pigs and broiler chickens to produce the same amount of protein. Besides, they emit less greenhouse gases and ammonia than conventional livestock. Insects can be grown on organic waste.
Therefore, insects are a potential source for conventional production (mini-livestock) of protein, either for direct human consumption, or indirectly in recomposed foods (with extracted protein from insects); and as a protein source into feed stock mixtures.
The insect protein industry could be worth USD 7.96 billion by 2030, according to a Meticulous Research report. Already, insect farming is seen as a promising and valuable source of sustainable protein for animal feed, and creates useful by-products that can be used as fertilizer and material for medical purposes.
While the concept of insect agriculture may seem foreign to the average person, the industry is predicted to grow rapidly at a CAGR of 27.8%.
To give an instance, Leading French agritech firm Ynsect secured further Series C funding, bringing their total funding to USD 372 million – one of the largest investments in the industry. The company, which currently operates in Europe and Asia, has ambitions to build the largest insect farm in the world by 2022 and expand into the United States. Many such industrialization of insect farming happening all around the world for good.
How Does Insect Farming Work?
Insect farming involves breeding, rearing and harvesting insects for animal feed, human consumption, pharmaceutical and cosmetic uses. Commonly farmed insects include crickets, mealworms, and the black soldier fly.
In particular, insect farming has huge potential for animal feed, providing a higher-quality, protein-rich substitute for existing, unsustainable wild catch fish protein. For instance, fish meal can be replaced by meal made from fly larvae as they both have similar amino acid composition.
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