NYANGAMBE, ZIMBABWE \u2014\u00a0At first, the suggestion to try farming maggots spooked Mari Choumumba and other farmers in Nyangambe, a region in southeastern Zimbabwe where drought wiped out the staple crop of corn. After multiple cholera outbreaks in the southern African nation resulting from extreme weather and poor sanitation, flies were largely seen as something to exterminate, not breed. \u201cWe were alarmed,\u201d Choumumba said, recalling a community meeting where experts from the government and the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, broached the idea. People had flocked to the gathering in hope of news about food aid. But many stepped back when told it was about training on farming maggots for animal feed and garden manure. \u201cPeople were like, \u2018What? These are flies. Flies bring cholera,\u2019\u201d Choumumba said. A year later, the 54-year-old walks with a smile to a smelly cement pit covered by wire mesh where she feeds rotting waste to maggots \u2014 her new meal ticket. After harvesting the insects about once a month, Choumumba turns them into protein-rich feed for her free-range chickens that she eats and sells. Up to 80% of chicken production costs were gobbled up by feed for rural farmers before they took up maggot farming. Many couldn\u2019t afford the $35 charged by stores for a 50-kilogram (110-pound) bag of poultry feed, said Francis Makura, a specialist with a USAID program aimed at broadening revenue streams for farmers affected by climate change. But maggot farming reduces production costs by about 40%, he said. Black soldier fly The maggots are offspring of the black soldier fly, which originates in tropical South America. Unlike the house fly, it is not known to spread disease. Their life cycle lasts just weeks, and they lay between 500 and 900 eggs. The larvae devour decaying organic items \u2014 from rotting fruit and vegetables to kitchen scraps and animal manure \u2014 and turn them into a rich protein source for livestock. \u201cIt is even better than the crude protein we get from soya,\u201d said Robert Musundire, a professor specializing in agricultural science and entomology at Chinhoyi University of Technology in Zimbabwe, which breeds the insects and helps farmers with breeding skills. Donors and governments have pushed for more black soldier fly maggot farming in Africa because of its low labor and production costs and huge benefits to agriculture, the continent\u2019s mainstay that is under pressure from climate change and Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. In Uganda, the maggots helped plug a fertilizer crisis caused by the war in Ukraine. In Nigeria and Kenya, they are becoming a commercial success. In Zimbabwe The Zimbabwean government and partners piloted it among farmers struggling with securing soya meal for their animals. A World Bank-led project later used it as a recovery effort for communities affected by a devastating 2019 cyclone. Now it is becoming a lifesaver for some communities in the country of 15 million people where repeated droughts make it difficult to grow corn. It’s not clear how many people across the country are involved in maggot-farming projects. At first, \u201ca mere 5%\u201d of farmers that Musundire, the professor, approached agreed to venture into maggot farming. Now that\u2019s up to \u201cabout 50%,\u201d he said, after people understood the protein benefits and the lack of disease transmission. The \u201cyuck factor\u201d was an issue. But necessity triumphed, he said. With the drought decimating crops and big livestock such as cattle \u2014 a traditional symbol of wealth and status and a source of labor \u2014 small livestock such as chickens are helping communities recover more quickly. \u201cThey can fairly raise a decent livelihood out of the resources they have within a short period of time,\u201d Musundire said. Reduces waste, too It also helps the environment. Zimbabwe produces about 1.6 million tons of waste annually, 90% of which can be recycled or composted, according to the country\u2019s Environmental Management Agency. Experts say feeding it to maggots can help reduce greenhouse emissions in a country where garbage collection is erratic. At a plot near the university, Musundire and his students run a maggot breeding center in the city of 100,000 people. The project collects over 35 metric tons a month in food waste from the university\u2019s canteens as well as vegetable markets, supermarkets, abattoirs, food processing companies and beer brewers. \u201cFood waste is living, it respires and it contributes to the generation of greenhouse gases,\u201d Musundire said. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, food loss \u2014 which occurs in the stages before reaching the consumer \u2014 and food waste after sale account for 8% to 10% of greenhouse gas emissions globally, or about five times that of the aviation sector. The university project converts about 20 to 30 metric tons of the waste into livestock protein or garden manure in about two weeks. Choumambo said people often sneer as she goes around her own community collecting banana peels and other waste that people toss out at the market and bus station. \u201cI tell them we have good use for it, it is food for our maggots,\u201d she said. She still has to contend with \u201cignorant\u201d people who accuse maggot farmers of \u201cbreeding cholera.\u201d But she cares little about that as her farm begins to thrive. \u2018Sweet smell of food\u2019 From bare survival, it is becoming a profitable venture. She can harvest up to 15 kilograms (about 33 pounds) of maggots in 21 days, turning out 375 kilograms (826.7 pounds) of chicken feed after mixing it with drought-tolerant crops such as millets, cowpeas and sunflower and a bit of salt. Choumambo sells some of the feed to fellow villagers at a fraction of the cost charged by stores for traditional animal feed. She also sells eggs and free-range chickens, a delicacy in Zimbabwe, to restaurants. She’s one of 14 women in her village taking up the project. \u201cI never imagined keeping and surviving on maggots,\u201d she said, taking turns with a neighbor to mix rotting vegetables, corn meal and other waste in a tank using a shovel. \u201cMany people would puke at the sight and the stench. But this is the sweet smell of food for the maggots, and for us, the farmers.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NYANGAMBE, ZIMBABWE \u2014\u00a0At first, the suggestion to try farming maggots spooked Mari Choumumba and other farmers in Nyangambe, a region in southeastern Zimbabwe where drought wiped out the staple crop of corn. After multiple cholera outbreaks in the southern African nation resulting from extreme weather and poor sanitation, flies were largely seen as something to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":495,"featured_media":25866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/495"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobbinghood.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}