Manila Bulletin, Philippines : Researcher discovers vast potential of fly larvae

01/03/2003

Researcher discovers vast potential of fly larvae

By Zac B. Sarian

A foreign researcher who used to work as a volunteer for the German Development Service for five years and who is now living in Tacloban City has come up with a novel organic recycling technology that he believes will produce affordable animal feeds, at the same time helping solve waste management problems.

Anthony Simms reports that after doing some research in the Philippines, he has found an option of “biologically handling waste” that has not yet been recognized in the Philippines for its amazing potential. He said he has tried it and it works so well that it is almost too good to be true. It is a biological method to extract protein from the “waste” and produce compost at the same time, increasing the economics of the projects that concentrate on the latter.

The organism that is involved in the production of protein and compost fertilizer is the Black Soldier Fly which is very common in the tropics. The larvae of the Black Soldier Fly are found in big numbers in chicken dung and other rotting materials.

The larvae, he said, are known for their very high protein content. No, the larvae are not to be eaten by humans. They can be used to feed chickens and other farm animals. He points out that Sasso free- range chickens, fish in the wild and many others consider insect larvae as a delicacy. The strategy, therefore, is to grow the larvae en masse. Black Soldier Fly culture is one promising way to produce feeds at minimal cost and at the same time help solve the waste problem in the Philippines.

Simm said that a few years ago, someone discovered something special about Black Soldier Flies. He said that their larvae are “self-harvesting”. As young and growing larvae, they eat and eat and remain in their feeding grounds. When everything in their development, as larvae, has happened, there is only one thing for them to do - pupate. In order to do so, they must find a dry, dark, undisturbed place. That’s all what is “on their mind” until they successfully find a suitable place to turn into an adult fly.

The catch is this, says Simm: “If kept in a waste conversion container that has a kind of larva fence around it, the grown up larvae (pre-pupae) crawl and crawl in search of an opportunity to pupate, until they find the only escape hole in this fence. Behind the escape hole is a simple trap which looks very much like a powdered milk can. It has an edge inside so that the larvae that drop into it cannot escape anymore. The larvae fence around the waste container looks very much the same.

The commercial value of the pre-pupae is about P10 per kilo. What you have to do is merely throw waste into a container and out comes walking a concentrate of proteins, fat, phosphorus, etc. You just need to harvest. Periodically, you need to remove what the larvae have chewed up, digested and excreted. That material needs no shredding and turns into compost easily. Simm says that the Black Soldier Fly larvae are able to “chew” better than earth worms.

Simm adds that the larvae eat anything, including vegetable wastes, garden clippings, market wastes, food leftovers, manure, you name it. Everything would turn into compost.

He adds that he suspects several compost projects lose a considerable fraction of their inputs to insect larvae which eat a lot then run.

We will feature more details about Simm’s idea in the February issue of Agriculture Magazine. Watch for it.