By Kansiime Dianah Giusy

The Black Soldier larvae Innovation is one of the most immediate and funded project at the Uganda Martyr’s University (Nkozi ) Agriculture Faculty. This was a new Innovation that was introduced in 2019 to provide high nutrient values for Animals and also act as manure for the Plants.

According to Researchers, it contains 70% of the protein nutrients which also help in faster growth of the Animals. It naturally occurs in animal droppings but also flourish on other organic waste substrates such as coffee bean pulp, vegetables residues, catering waste, municipal organic waste, straw, dried distillers grains with soluble and fish offal and can add value by reducing organic waste biomass by 60% and turning them into high protein biomass.

The Larvae Innovation enables farmers to produce high nutrient feeds cheaply and sustainably which requires less space, water and energy .According to Daniel Ssendagire, it eats and breaks down every soft material that includes organic waste such as rotten tomatoes, jackfruits, papaws to help in waste management in the environment. Over 1,500 tonnes of waste in Kampala city is being throwned away daily on the streets. The Nkozi Community is using this innovation to at least collect 50 % organic waste that has been throwned away from the university, schools, hotels and restaurants by putting bins at the main points of this places so as to secure them as food for the larvae.

Distribution

The Faculty of Agriculture has an eye catching poster at the front of the gate that markets these larvae forcing different farmers in the community to come, learn and buy the mixed up manure where a kilogram is worth twenty five thousand Uganda shillings. Different Researchers, Innovators and programs have also invested their money in this project so as to yield better Animals in the world.

Process of Rearing

The black soldier flies are reared in four stages from adult stage, eggs stage, larva and the pupa stage. From 5-7 days the flies are ready for hatching, then collected and taken to a brooder where after three days turn into larva. At the first stage the flies are kept in cages under conducive weather conditions so that they can see the female and lay eggs compared to different changes of climate like experiencing too much rainfall where no action will take place.
Timber is used to collect the eggs during the process of hatching. The male is smaller in size as the female is bigger depending on the amount food consumed.

This larva can be given to poultry to feed on daily as it increases its growth at a faster rate. ‘These chicken enjoy them which breeds economic gap to reducing the cost of input for farmers’’ Kefa Kalanzi a Researcher at the Agriculture faculty says as he requests for more emphasis on this project.
In the brooder, the larva grows into compost for around 14 days where they eat, excrete and convert the waste .At this rate this is the best time to give them out to Animals before they turn into flies. The different manure like cow dung, chicken droppings produces a lot of greenhouse gases in the environment contributing to constant climate changes. The BSF has been a sustainable and efficient method for the plants. However also the larvae has an unknown hormone that digests the stinky smell of these rotten wastes such as offal’s.

A piggery project also owned by the Agriculture faculty is one of the mainly distributed places of this products which makes this piglets grow faster than eating other foods. They are distributed daily which makes them get proteins from this feeds.

Over the years, the cost of commercial feeds has made poultry farming erratic and less profitable. But farmers in Nkozi are shifting to more sustainable sources of protein for their chicken, slashing feed costs substantially, and ensuring their chunkier poultry fetches better prices.
They are converting organic waste, picked from food markets, into fast-growing, protein-rich larvae of black soldier flies, which are happily eaten by the chicken. The Larvae contain 45% protein, which is crucial in the growth of the birds.
UMU Media had a visit to a Poultry farm in Nkozi where a farmer rearing broilers for sale was using larvae as a supplement instead of silver fish which is relatively expensive.

In the video below, Nusiat Namusoke, a poultry Farmer explains how the black soldier larvae has increased the size of these chicken and increased their nutrient value.

Below are some pictures for the poultry Enterprise.

The BSF is also used as manure for Banana plantations to grow healthier and faster. According to Nusiat , who also collects the poultry droppings and mixes them with larvae says that the bananas can grow within six months compared to the others which can grow in a year.

In Regards to further research, the value chain in this innovation is highly needed to develop and constantly manage the BSF to gain better yields in the livestock and the Animals.

Other benefits of the Black Soldier Fly Larvae

Clean food production is faster and cheaper

Any animal that is raised for its meat has to be a clean source of food, both before and after being processed. With regular poultry or cattle this means a lot of time, money and effort is put into turning their meat into an edible, clean product. This process is a whole lot faster and easier with black fly larvae, since no matter what they eat, their digestive processes kills any bacteria they may encounter in their food.

Their reproduction rate is way above average

What could be better than having more available product at a higher production rate? A black soldier fly can easily lay up to 500 eggs in one go. Also, since they only live for 6 weeks, you can expect even more eggs from the next generation of BSFL. Compared to that of chicken which usually lays only about 200 eggs in a year.

They need a lot less fodder to produce more meat

To add even more emphasis on how advantageous their reproduction rate is compared to other animals, black soldier fly larvae excel at converting fodder into food. While you would need 10 kg of fodder to make 1 kg of beef, BSFL only need around 1,5 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of meat!

Black soldier fly larvae farming is easy

If you’re looking for a fresh, organic source of protein that you can easily farm, this is it. If you put a little ramp in their feeding area with a bucket at the end, the BSFL will basically harvest themselves: just before they enter the final stage of their growth, they will look for a dark and dry place, and climb into the bucket by themselves.

BSFL farming is much more ethical

Black soldier fly larvae prefer to stay very close together. This means that what counts as cruel towards other livestock, is actually a humane, and practical solution here. Also they produce absolutely zero waste since their remains can be used as fertilizer, and take a lot less space than other animals (you can raise a ton of BSFL in a space as big as a SMART car),farming them is puts a lot less strain on the environment.

  Black soldier Fly, Black soldier fly at Uganda Martyrs University, organic waste disposal, Research, Uganda Martyrs University Innovations