Cricket Farming Project

The Director of Act women foundation call for suport of adible CRICKET FARMING IN UGANDA Today, I’m going to show you exactly, how you can start raising crickets for food, feed and profit on a small scale. In fact, you can start making a serious profit! The current price tag of live crickets which lays between 15-60$ (sometimes even more) per 1000 crickets. Introduction Advantages of a farming of edible crickets for humans Nutrition Insects are interesting in research of new sources of proteins and offer alternatives to our traditional and non sustainable way of consumption . The cricket's energy intake is 120 kcal/ 100g ( weight when it is fresh) and its average protein content is 8-25g/100g ( weight when it is fresh). The cricket appears to be a really good source of proteins, omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, and minerals: iron, zinc, magnesium, copper,... Ecology/ economy Insect farming asks less water and feed than bovine, sheep and pig farming: their feed conversion capacity (the ability of an animal to convert a given weight of feed to body weight, represented in kg feed per kg of weight gain of the animal) is higher than those of the farming mentioned above. For example, it takes 10 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of beef while it takes 1.7 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of crickets. The amount of greenhouse gases produced by insect farming is significantly less than that of livestock. From a logistical point of view, cricket farming has many advantages over large livestock farming: the area of land occupied is smaller, possible in urban areas. The low need for investment in infrastructure can enable poorer populations to start micro-farming, they can be raised on substrates made up of agricultural waste and fed with organic by-products. How cricket farming works Get crickets of edible species, on the internet or in pet shops. Wait until the second generation before eating them if they come from a pet shop. Feed the crickets with crushed wheat or any other cereal powder as well as vegetable waste (peelings, etc). When the crickets start singing (45 days for the species of this tuto), they are mature and begin the breeding period: Place the nest in the waterproof box, moistening the fibre slightly. Leave the nest for 3 days with the adults, the females will come to lay as long as the coconut fibre is wet. Remove adult crickets after 3 days. Scald the crickets before eating. This eliminates any bacteria or parasites present in the crickets, as with conventional meat. There are different ways to eat crickets, (more to come) Processing / Consumption Scald the crickets before eating. This eliminates any bacteria or parasites present in the crickets, as with conventional meat.