Desert locusts are a plague in East Africa. But what if these destructive pests that cause widespread damage to crops could themselves be turned into a form of sustenance?
Insects are tasty, if you ask Chrysantus Tanga, an entomologist from Cameroon. “As a kid, I caught grasshoppers for fun and ate them straight away,” he says. “They’re so beautifully crunchy.”
Tanga works for the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), a pan-African research institute in Nairobi, Kenya, that’s been breeding desert locusts for research for over 20 years.
Tanga and his colleagues found that insect oils, made for example from desert locusts, are full of nutrients, containing more omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E and antioxidants than vegetable oils. To make a litre of raw desert locust oil, you need around 20 kilogrammes of dried and crushed grasshoppers.
The resulting oil is dark brown and smells strongly of fish.
Cooks in the ICIPE canteen already offer biscuits and bread baked with desert locust oil. The decorative spots on the loaf, about the size of raisins, are the only indications that the bread is something a little special – they’re fried locusts.
Upon testing, the biscuits are still a work in progress, but one of the dark loaves of bread has a pleasant, nutty flavour.
There could be significant demand for such products in Africa, which is facing food shortages and rapid population growth.
East Africa has been struggling with desert locust invasions since the end of last year. The swarms threaten food security, with Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia among the most severely affected.
Farmers and shepherds are helpless as the swarms destroy their fields and pastures, ruining their livelihoods.
However, the wild locusts can’t just be caught and turned into oil, explains Tanga. It wouldn’t be practical, as the insects migrate, often to inaccessible or dangerous areas. “We can’t reliably predict when they will be found where, and in what numbers,” he says. Also, the locusts could be sprayed with pesticides, says Xavier Cheseto, Tanga’s colleague.
Breeding the locusts would be more practical. Desert locusts could be bred for food quickly, cheaply and in very small spaces, and are capable of reproduction within two weeks.
On average, there are 12,600 locusts living in 42 boxes in the ICIPE labs, says Tanga. Female locusts lay 300 eggs on average throughout their lives, and some three-quarters survive.
Breeding locusts is thought to have less of an impact on the environment than cattle farming, says Cheseto, with 83% less methane emissions. A further advantage is their high protein content: Desert locusts consist of 62% protein, making them a good replacement for soy as a meat alternative.
In sub-Saharan Africa, insects have long been part of people’s diet – over 500 species of insects are eaten on the continent. Now, researchers are focusing on how to develop insects for modern diets, as well as to make soap and biodiesel.
ICIPE is now working with governments and companies throughout Africa to put its research to good use and to promote industry involving insects. More than 50 companies in Kenya already use insects, the institute says, mostly to make animal feed.
Scientists at the University of Ghent, Belgium, are also investigating the possible use of insect oil as a healthy ingredient for cooking and baking. They are focused on making oil out of Hermetia illucens – commonly known as the black soldier fly.
Grasshopper oil is also highly nutritious, says John Kinyuru, a nutritionist who works for Jomo Kenyatta University in Nairobi.
Now, businesses are looking at industrial production, though one problem is that farmers aren’t producing sufficient quantities yet. “But you have to be extremely careful that the locusts don’t escape, or you’ll attract a plague,” he says. – dpa/Anja Bengelstorff
Already a subscriber? Log in
Get 20% OFF The Star Digital Access
Cancel anytime. Ad-free. Unlimited access with perks.
