|We were thinking of growing maggots for food, dry them and
|grind them up.
|Insects, the food for the next millenium. Join the leading edge.
In Benin, West Africa, there is a sustainable agric college called Songhai.
They use maggots in a very interesting manner.
I stand corrected on the figures, but as I recall them:
They have an area of about 20m x 30m divided up into 1m x 1m recesses about
15cm deep and each "hole/bin" is surrounded by a channel. Into these bins go
kitchen offal, dead rodents, lizards, pig sty gunk etc. etc. and vegetable
refuse. All mixed together - a fly gourmet diner.
The flies lay eggs, maggots hatch and eat/process this stuff and when the
maggots cannot find any food left in these bins, they crawl out in search of
more. They then fall into the channels where they are collected and put in
buckets. Once all the maggots have left a bin, the content is removed and
then new mix added.
1. The maggots are collected by the elderly in the community - giving them
the opportunity to contribute - instead of being sidelined.
2. The remnant material from the bins is compost and this is reworked into
the communal gardens.
3. It tends to concentrate the flies around these bins and keeps them away
from the rest of the area, especially food preparation areas.
4. Maggots are 70% protein
5. 1 ton gunk produces 7 tons of maggots
6. Used as fish food in aquaculture they produce about 2 tons of Tilapia,
which are harvested and sold to the surrounding communities.
The project director has a saying ".. that there is no free lunch for anyone
here. Even the flies have to work for their food".
Cheers
Riaan
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