Feeding poultry with insects, this project solves garbage, agrarian crises

The gradual surge in demand for meat and meat-based products has raised concerns over malnutrition since large swathes of farmland are diverted to grow resource-intensive poultry products.

Cutting down on water-guzzling crops used for animal feed, city-based Nandus Foods has successfully experimented by replacing soy with insect protein. What more, the insects thrive on food waste that otherwise ends up in landfills.

Narendra Pasuparthy, founder and CEO of Nandus Foods, said time is ripe to tackle the twin issues of the animal feed industry that eats into the agricultural sector and the urban food waste affecting cities like Bengaluru. His search for a solution resulted in the start-up Insectifii with Mitali Poovayya, a neurobiology researcher from Amsterdam University. The start-up converts food waste into high-grade protein for poultry using the Black Soldier Fly (BSF).

“Poultry feed comprises largely protein and carbohydrates. While soy provides the protein, corn is largely the source of carbohydrates. As it is natural for the chicken to feed on worms, we experimented with insects rich in protein,” explained Pasuparthy.

An insect-breeding unit in Bengaluru.

In fact, the team has just finished three months of trials in and around Bengaluru from March to May and is happy that the research data is promising.

Mitali said the BSF larvae consume organic waste twice their body size. “These are neither pathogenic nor harmful if they bite or sting. They are absolutely human-friendly and safe. Their life cycle is very short and it only eats all it can during its larval stage and, later in adulthood, it only drinks water,” she said.

In fact, the insects sniff out the rotten organic waste and lay eggs so that the young ones have plenty to eat. The larva eats all it can in 15 to 17 days before attaining the pupation stage. “And this is when we harvest them,” said Mitali, the company’s chief operating officer.

While the eggs take two to four days to hatch, the larvae feed on the waste for 15 days and a fortnight period of pupa stage before emerging as a fly that lives only for a week, lays eggs and dies. The larvae convert the food waste it consumes into protein and fats.

“Whatever is leftover is nothing but high-grade organic compost. The insects contain 40% protein and 25% fat,” Mitali revealed. “The harvested larvae are dried and fed to the chickens. The insects also have other by-products such as oil and compost.”

They also go into fish feed, while the oil can be used in soapmaking. The company is sourcing food waste from apartments, small hotels and Nandu’s chicken outlets. Out of a kilogram of food waste a day, the team harvests about 60 kilograms of dried larvae.

“More quantity of food waste provides better output since these insects are nature’s own waste managers. The trials have revealed insect protein is safe for chicken. Several European countries have allowed this as an alternative to serial feed,” Pasuparthy said.

The considerable increase in meat percentage is an advantage for farmers and buyers alike. Meat or eggs produced out of the feed does not taste different. In the end, it solves both the urban waste problem and water use for poultry feed in the rural areas, he added.

The new feeding system also has economic benefits for poultry farmers who use thousands of tonnes of compound feed per annum. “Farmers also earn due to the high-quality meat yield. Insect protein is also superior to soya. It saves methane emission out of the landfill, prevents contamination of groundwater and soil,” Pasuparthy said.