From yuck to profits: Some Zimbabwe farmers turn to maggots to survive drought and thrive

Zimbabwe’s Nyangambe (AP) Mari Choumumba and other farmers in Nyangambe, a district in southeast Zimbabwe where drought destroyed the major crop of corn, were initially alarmed by the idea of trying to grow maggots.

Flies were mostly viewed as something to eradicate rather than breed after several cholera outbreaks in the southern African country were caused by harsh weather and inadequate sanitation.

Choumumba recalled a community meeting when government and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) specialists discussed the concept and said, “We were alarmed.”

Attendees had gathered in anticipation of hearing about food assistance. However, many reacted negatively when they learned that it was about training to grow maggots for garden manure and animal feed.

People asked, “What?” According to Choumumba, these are flies, and flies spread cholera.

A year later, the 54-year-old cheerfully makes her way to a foul-smelling cement pit with wire mesh over it, where she gives maggots her new meal ticket by feeding them rotten waste.

Choumumba harvests the insects once a month or so, then uses them to make protein-rich feed for her free-range chickens, which she sells and consumes herself.

Before rural farmers started maggot farming, feed accounted for up to 80% of the costs of producing chicken. A specialist with a USAID program that aims to expand revenue streams for farmers impacted by climate change, Francis Makura, stated that many could not afford the $35 that stores charged for a 50-kilogram (about 110-pound) bag of poultry feed.

However, he claimed that maggot farming lowers production costs by roughly 40%.

The black soldier fly, which is native to tropical South America, is the parent species of the maggots. It is not known to transmit disease, in contrast to the house fly.

They lay between 500 and 900 eggs during their brief life cycle. The larvae convert decomposing organic materials into a rich source of protein for cattle by eating everything from rotting fruit and vegetables to kitchen waste and animal dung.

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According to Robert Musundire, a professor of agricultural science and entomology at Chinhoyi University of Technology in Zimbabwe, who raises the insects and assists farmers with breeding techniques, it is even superior to the crude protein we obtain from soy.

Due to its low labor and production costs and enormous benefits to agriculture—Africa’s mainstay—donors and governments have pushed for more black soldier fly maggot farming across the continent, which is under strain from climate change and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine generated a fertilizer crisis in Uganda, which the maggots helped plug. They are starting to achieve commercial success in Kenya and Nigeria.

It was launched by the government and partners in Zimbabwe among farmers who were having trouble finding soy meal for their animals. Later, it was used as part of a World Bank-led project to help communities rebuild from a devastating 2019 storm.

In some communities in the 15 million-person nation where growing maize is challenging due to frequent droughts, it is already saving lives. The number of persons participating in maggot-farming initiatives nationwide is unknown.

When Musundire, the professor, first approached farmers, just 5% of them agreed to try maggot farming. He claimed that after people realized the advantages of protein and the absence of disease transmission, that number had increased to roughly 50%.

One of the problems was the icky factor. But, he claimed, necessity won out.

Small livestock like chickens are accelerating community recovery as a result of the drought, which is destroying crops and large livestock like cattle, which are traditionally seen as a source of labor and a sign of wealth and prestige.

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According to Musundire, people can quickly and fairly raise a respectable standard of living with the resources at their disposal.

It benefits the environment as well. According to Zimbabwe’s Environmental Management Agency, 90% of the 1.6 million tons of waste produced there each year can be recycled or composted. According to experts, feeding it to maggots can help lower carbon emissions in a nation with inconsistent waste pickup.

Musundire and his pupils operate a maggot breeding center in the 100,000-person city on a property close to the university. More than 35 metric tons of food waste are collected each month by the project from the university canteens, vegetable markets, supermarkets, slaughterhouses, food processing facilities, and beer breweries.

According to Musundire, food waste is living, breathes, and contributes to the production of greenhouse gasses.

According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, food waste after sale and food loss that happens in the stages before it reaches the consumer account for 8% to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, which is roughly five times as much as the aviation industry.

In roughly two weeks, the university effort turns 20–30 metric tons of the garbage into garden manure or cattle feed.

As she walks around her neighborhood gathering banana peels and other trash that people throw off at the market and bus stop, Choumambo said she frequently encounters sneers.

We can make good use of it, she remarked, adding that it provides food for our maggots. She still has to deal with naive individuals who claim that maggot growers are responsible for cholera breeding.

But as her farm starts to prosper, she doesn’t really care about that.

It has evolved from mere survival to a lucrative endeavor. With a little salt and drought-tolerant crops like sunflower, cowpeas, and millets, she may harvest up to 15 kilograms (about 33 pounds) of maggots in 21 days, producing 375 kilograms (826.7 pounds) of chicken feed.

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At a fraction of the price that retailers charge for conventional livestock feed, Choumambo sells some of the feed to other locals. She also supplies restaurants with eggs and free-range chickens, which are considered a delicacy in Zimbabwe. In her hamlet, 14 women are participating in the project, including her.

As she and a neighbor alternately mixed rotting vegetables, corn flour, and other garbage in a tank with a shovel, she remarked, “I never imagined keeping and surviving on maggots.”

The sight and stench would make many people throw up. However, for the maggots and us farmers, this is the delightful scent of food.

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