BOGOTÁ — After the Peace Agreement was signed between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia back in 2016, some ex-combatants moved to the former Territorial Training and Reintegration Space in Icononzo, Tolima. This area was established to help peace signatories reintegrate into civilian life and develop productive projects for a new livelihood.
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There, they began working on tilapia farming — but quickly ran into a problem. The bags of concentrate used to feed these fish, generally imported, were so expensive that only large farming structures could turn a profit. Karol Barragán-Fonseca, coordinator of the Terrestrial Arthropod Research Center of the National University, saw an opportunity to combine science with the work of the peace signatories.
And the key to it all, she thought, could well be the larva of a fly native to the ecosystems surrounding Icononzo.
Insects for Peace
The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) is an insect which, before learning to fly, lives as a larva and feeds on organic waste such as the dung of some animals, food remains and shells. Which makes them easy to reproduce, by the millions in small plastic baskets, until they can be used as food for tilapia. “We captured the fly in the wild and started exploring options. We managed to produce the larva and reduce food costs,” explains Barragán-Fonseca.
Through an initiative, called Insects for Peace, groups of ex-FARC combatants collaborate with small farmers in other regions of the country. Together, they have learned to take advantage of the waste left by the larvae after feeding and which can serve as fertilizer for crops.
Like the black soldier fly, in several countries insects are attracting attention for their nutritional potential for animal husbandry. But the possibilities go much further than this. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), by 2050 the world will reach 9 billion inhabitants and an additional 200 million tons of animal protein will be needed to feed us all. Given the environmental challenges posed by the production of beef, pork and chicken, insects are increasingly considered as a viable alternative.
Insects on the plate
When you think about having insects in your food bowl, your first feeling may be one of disgust. The rejection of the appearance or texture of a large part of these animals could be due to the association they have had with mythological creatures and rites from different cultures in history, as the Spanish doctor and naturalist Fidel Fernández Rubio explained in 2017 in an article titled “The impact of insects on the human mind.”
However in Colombia, some traditions indicate that the dislike is not shared by the whole country. In the Amazon and the Caribbean, for example, they eat mojojoy — the name given to the larvae of various beetles that parasitize native palm species. And in the state of Santander department, it is common to find Culona ant (Atta laevigata, literally translated as “big-assed ant”), sold toasted on the side of the roads or in markets.
Colombia may not have enough land to produce foods of animal and plant origin by 2060.
Indeed, entomophagy, i.e. the habit of eating insects, is a practice that has been forgotten in modern societies, but it has been part of our diet throughout evolution. Giovanny Fagua, professor of the Department of Biology and coordinator of the Entomology Laboratory of the Javeriana University of Bogotá, maintains that “many cultures, especially those with tropical locations on the planet, have used insects as a food source.”
Depending on the species, edible insects can have protein percentages between 19% and 75%. The domestic cricket can even be up to 55-71% protein, as reported in the Journal of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics of the National University of Colombia.
In a review of the state of insect production in the world, published in the journal Entomologia Generalis, it was established that the black soldier fly boasts between 40-50% of protein. These levels far exceed the average of 19-25% found in beef and chicken, the most consumed sources of animal protein in Colombia. Besides, they are high in healthy fats and minerals, such as potassium, zinc and iron.
Obvious production benefits
The benefits are also evident in terms of resources needed for their production. A space of 100 meters by 10 meters can accommodate either about 10,000 adult chickens, or just two heads of cattle. In that same space, according to Luis Galeano, zootechnician and professor at the Faculty of Agrarian Sciences of the University of Antioquia, at least seven million larvae of the mealworm (Tenebrio molitor) could be produced.
This is important because, with a growing population, in the future there will also be a greater demand for animal protein, which has different implications in the context of climate change. According to a 2019 article published in the journal Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Colombia could be having a hard time meeting the nutritional needs of its inhabitants by 2060, because it would not have enough land to produce foods of animal and plant origin. Using more land would imply expanding the agricultural frontier, causing more deforestation to use the space for livestock or crops.
Another article, published in 2022 in the same magazine, indicates that livestock farming is responsible for 18% of greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans. In this context, introducing insects to the diet, say the authors, could represent a crucial opportunity to resolve food insecurity while reducing the environmental pressure generated by livestock farming.
In addition, a cow needs between three and five years to reach a plate of food, while the black soldier fly takes “between 18 and 20 days to reach its ideal larval state to be used,” says Barragán. Same goes for the Tenebrio molitor, while the tropical domestic cricket requires between two and three months.
Shared process
The process is more or less the same for all insects: A couple of days after the females lay their eggs, they turn into larvae, which feed on plant residues such as remains of fruits and vegetables. When they reach a state of sufficient maturity, before their adult stage, they are removed from the breeding containers, cleaned and sacrificed by freezing or by placing them in water at very high temperatures.
This “guarantees the safety of the product and allows a shelf life of up to six months, without additives or preservatives,” explains the article published in the Journal of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics of the National University of Colombia.
Following these procedures, foods containing insects are already produced in Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, mainly for human consumption. In Colombia, according to the review published in Entomologia generalis, some 22 small companies are dedicated to insect breeding, focused on the black soldier fly, although they mainly produce food for animals.
In addition to the production of alternative sources of animal protein, Insects for Peace have found another way to take advantage of all the resources that the process offers. “The larva feeds 100% on organic waste and leaves us the frass,” says Barragán, which is the feces it produces after processing its food. This material works as a biofertilizer that the project members use for their crops. “It is a low-cost circular process in which nothing is wasted, which is why it generates better returns for small farmers,” says the researcher from the National University.
An insect industry
The experience of eating insects such as the big-assed ant or the mojojoy “is not pleasant for many people,” says Andrea Sánchez, Ph. D. in food science and assistant professor at the Department of Chemical and Food Engineering at the University of the Andes. “But they do not take into account that they would not actually eat the insect alive or fresh.”
The university has advised companies dedicated to the production of insects so that they should design foods that are attractive for consumption. To do this, they work on textures that people are accustomed to or on ways to integrate them into existing foods, to increase their nutritional value. “There are many possibilities. Mainly in Europe and the United States, they’ve produced snacks, flour and insect-based drinks,” says Sánchez.
To establish an insect-based food industry, the first requirement is funding.
But making appealing products isn’t the only challenge in this industry. In Colombia, a production infrastructure similar to that of the meat industry is needed — with standardized processes for hygiene, transportation, and handling.
According to Fagua, laboratory research is just the first step. “Scaling it up to industrial levels always brings complications that need to be learned from.” For example, increasing the number of insects in the same breeding container can lead to diseases from overcrowding or lack of genetic diversity, as they reproduce within the same group.
Clear regulations needed
It’s also important to determine the right amount and type of food for healthy growth and expected protein levels. Barragán, from Insects for Peace, explains that they aim to ensure organic waste is very clean, free of pesticides, and specifically collected for the larvae to prevent their death.
In insects that can eat different residues, other risks are being analyzed. In 2023, an article published in the Journal of Environmental Management analyzed the response of Tenebrio molitor after being fed polystyrene and other types of plastics and did not report microplastics in its excrement. Galeano, who has done similar experiments in his laboratory at the University of Antioquia, assures that, although this could mean a great possibility for waste management, further research is needed to investigate whether toxic residues might remain in the insects’ digestive tracts.
To explore these possibilities and establish an insect-based food industry, Sánchez says, “the first requirement is funding.” However, clear regulations are also necessary for its development. The National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (Invima) would be responsible for regulating this production. In 2018, at the request of Arthrofood, Invima’s specialized food and beverage division confirmed that “cricket flour” from the species Gryllodes sigillatus can be used as a food ingredient.
Although this is a good sign of the progress made in research and production in the country, Sánchez believes that a formal list is needed indicating the species that could be used for this use. “Because if we investigate an insect in particular, but then its use as an ingredient is not approved, it would be a lost investment.”
*This article is part of Climate Tracker’s Green Industries program in collaboration with the Open Society Foundations.
