Insect and hydroponic crop farming, for both human food and animal feed, have the potential to increase access to nutritious food, while creating millions of jobs, improving the climate and the environment, and strengthening national economies, according to a new World Bank report ‘Insect and Hydroponic Farming in Africa: The New Circular Food Economy’.
“The world’s natural resources cannot sustain the current footprint of agriculture, especially when it comes to animal feed. To reverse current trends, we need a heavily disruptive and resilient food production model. The report makes a persuasive case for insect and hydroponic farming to complement conventional farming,” said Juergen Voegele, World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development. “Together with other investments in climate-smart agriculture, these technologies are part of a promising menu of solutions that can help countries move their agriculture systems toward greater sustainability and reduced emissions.”
The consumption of insects is not new, with an estimated 2 billion people globally consuming insects that are collected in the wild. What is new is farming insects specifically for human and animal consumption to provide a year-round supply, increase insect quality, and meet growing demand for animal protein. Combining hydroponic crops with insect farming is also novel and provides benefits ranging from improved nutrition to climate-resilient production synergies.
Both technologies fit within a circular economic model that can supplement conventional farming. Insects can be fed organic waste - from conventional agriculture, hydroponics, leftover food, or even breweries - to quickly produce nutritious and protein-rich foods for humans, fish, and livestock. Waste from insects can then be fed back into the system as organic fertilizer.
Food security
“The world needs a food production system that can feed everyone, everywhere, every day with nutritious food while providing economic benefits and protecting the environment, including in countries with few resources. A circular food economy and insect and hydroponic farming can deliver on this promise,” said Dorte Verner, World Bank Lead Agriculture Economist and lead author of the report.
Acute food insecurity is on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa, where about one in five people is undernourished. The situation is worse in African countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV), where 29 percent of people do not have access to enough food. The report team collected the first insect farming data on the continent at the national and farm level in 13 African countries, including in FCV settings.
Africa already has hydroponic farms and more than 850 insect farms that produce food and feed. African insect farming using agriculture waste as feed could annually generate crude protein worth up to $2.6 billion and biofertilizers worth up to $19.4 billion. That is enough protein meal to meet up to 14 percent of the crude protein needed to rear all the pigs, goats, fish, and poultry in Africa.
For more information
Worldbank
www.worldbank.org/agriculture