- Project makes cookies and muffins using ground crickets from JKUAT farm
- People are increasingly embracing cricket products, says scholar
Image: JOHN KAMAU
Crickets have high nutritional value and can improve the country’s food security, a researcher has said.
Stella Maina of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology embarked on research and rearing of crickets at the institution which has been successful.
She told the Star crickets are rich in proteins, zinc, iron and vitamin B12 and are good for humans and animals, especially poultry.
Maina's project makes cookies and muffins using ground crickets from the farm.
“Once the crickets are dried, they can be ground or milled into flour which is used to bake cookies and muffins. People are increasingly adopting and embracing cricket products. Our muffins and cookies are yummy and we can’t satisfy the demand which is currently very high," Maina said.
“We are also producing porridge known as Sweetam using milled crickets which is highly nutritious and best for weaning children. Mothers with young children are flocking here for the flour.”
The researcher said plans are at an advanced stage to have the products branded and properly packaged so that they can find their way to supermarket shelves.
Maina said poultry feeds manufacturers have tendered for crickets from the university farm but their production cannot meet the demand.
Researchers and students collected crickets from thickets and started rearing them in a house at JKUAT but later realised they could not survive.
“The crickets were dying at a very high rate and this made it hard for us to collect eggs to hatch a new colony,” she said.
They decided to import cricket eggs from Germany and fetched others from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe) in Nairobi.
“We incubated the eggs and they hatched after one month. We fed them on vegetables, kitchen waste, potato and banana peels as well as leaves for one month. They matured after one month. Since they were of mixed sex they mated and laid eggs for another one month,” she said.
Maina noted that crickets are better reared in egg trays since they provide a dark environment. “Crickets like dark places and egg trays places in opposite direction close to each other provide the darkness where the crickets hide in,” she said
The researcher said their training of farmers across Kiambu county on the benefits of rearing crickets has borne fruits, with 24 farmers embracing the practice.
“This is a very profitable venture which requires little starting capital and also the production cost is very minimal. Farmers willing to start up can buy cricket eggs that are sold in plates which go for Sh500 per each. The place harbours about 2,500-5000 eggs. They take little time to hatch and mature,” she said.
A kilo of crickets goes for Sh 1000. “Crickets price is high because of their high nutritional value and the high demand of the products. This is a good business opportunity that is yet to be explored,” the researcher said.