Raising flies for animal feed

House flies (Musca domestica) can be a cheap and sustainable food source for farm-size livestock.

This is the prediction of some scientists and businesses, when the fly larvae are bred, raised at the ground, can provide a quantity of food protein for fish and other animals. Even businessman Jason Drew at Agriprotein suggested that fly larvae should be commercially fed to provide protein for fish and animal farming, which in turn will provide food for the growing population. gender.

Commercial feed flies can live in slaughterhouses, waste areas of plants, they will eat waste, improve the environment. These flies will then be processed into animal feed.

Flies provide a source of larvae for animal feed

This method has been applied by Agriprotein Company. In the past 5 years, the company has raised about 1 million flies locked in a 100-meter-wide cage, which produces about 1,000 eggs. After 17 days the larvae begin to harvest, before they turn into flies. Then dry, crush and sell as animal feed. In September 2012, the company produced 100 tons of wet larvae and 24.5 tons of feed.

According to Paul Vantomme, a United Nations official, the investment in raising flies for animal feed has great benefits for developing countries. Because it gives high productivity without big investment. However, keeping flies also poses many major challenges such as maintaining hygienic conditions, monitoring the quality and production of larvae.

Research on larvae for animal feed has also been conducted by Thailand. But in fact, not all countries can use this way to make animal feed. In Thailand there are reared insects that are parasites on many other commercially valuable animals, such as silkworms. Without good control of the reproduction of insects may destroy this silk industry.

The same point of view, Associate Professor Monica Ayieko of College Bondo, in Kenya, also said that even knowing the development of direct alternative protein sources would benefit the poor, but the biggest challenge is still questionable. When insects are popularly cultured.