Nutritious edible insects in South Africa should boost the economy and create jobs (Flying termites, locust, termites, Mopane Worms)

In Africa we pray for rain well aware that after the rain we are rewarded with crawling and flying insects that are protein rich and nutritious to our bodys. Africans of nowadays indulge in things that are more dangerous in their lives. The Meat products that they eat are injected with brine or breed in an environment that fastrack their growth. Brine is injected into chicken and other meat products to retain succulence and flavour. If you pay attention to details you would notice that some of the individually quick frozen (IQF) chicken portions packages are written 30% brine and 70% chicken. In South Africa we are used to eating three or more meals a day for most of our lives, so imagine what happens to your health when you eat 30% brine three times a day.

Africa and South Africa in particular is blessed with  plentiful of edible insects, Nemeneme or Nthwa (flying termite), Nthwa-Makhura (big abdomen termites), Magege (termites), Nzie (locust), Mashonzha (Mopane worms), Thonono (cricket), Lusudu (silk worm) just to name but few.

During my primary schooling years, my

grandmother would prepare me a lunch box made up of porridge and locust, and would go to school and enjoy my lunch like any other kids. After school we would go to the fields to catch locust so that we can have lunch the following day. Meat would come from free range chickens and other animals that grew on its own. During my high school years things started to change and we were gradually introduced to frozen chicken pieces (braai pack), little did we know that the gradual the change, the gradual was the lifespan going down.


If you can go to Thailand today you will be welcomed with fried beetles. In Thailand you can easily find fried insects sold by the vendors on the street, especially at touristy places. You would be made to feel like your adventure trip would not be complete without trying Thailand insect food.

The African Edible Insects conference that was held in Zimbabwe in August 2019, concluded that insects can do more for the economy in any African countries.  That is only when agricultural sectors support smallholder farmers.

Very few African governments have embraced the use of insects as food and feed, leading to a lack of and poor legislative frameworks to effectively support this emerging industry. South Africa has high rate of unemployment, and we have a government that is looking for solutions from wrong places. We  have vendors in thohoyandou selling termites or flying termites but without government support they will not prosper, we do not have big supermarkets that sells these edible insects for human consumption. The department of agriculture and tourism has not come to the party, is it feasible that we can farm some of these insects in South Africa? When we talk about farming everyone thinks of cattle, poultry, goats and sheeps, in dry seasons or diseases there is no plan B, people lose jobs and food production goes down. The costs of farming chicken and Cricket will vary and cricket will be less in terms of cost.


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