How Insects Have Transformed From Pest to Valuable By-product 

By Ankit Alok Bagaria, Co-Founder, Loopworm 

The conversion of agri-waste and by-products to new valuable commodities undoubtedly requires novel technologies, also including biological technologies, which must be at the same time economically, socially, and environmentally viable and sustainable. To that end, insects have been gaining a lot of momentum as a promising biotechnological solution for upcycling leftover biomasses from agri and food production systems. However, the variety of these by-products constitutes a major technological problem for processing. Let’s explore the feasibility of this interesting development in value creation in the agriculture sector.

Till now, insects have been largely considered a pest or nuisance as they attack our crops and also infest in our granaries. But if we change the perspective and look at it from a different angle, insects are natural feeders on the crop leaves and stems, which are by-products of our agriculture production system, often getting burnt as stubble post harvesting, or being mulched into the same lands, or the most problematic of all, being dumped into landfills. 

Thus, these little creatures can be farmed on these by-products. Now, it appears a little less obvious on the use of these insects if they are mass produced in an industrial farming system. Several insect species naturally develop on organic wastes and via the incorporation of nutrients into their bodies, can be used to reduce the amount of waste material, while at the same time generating a more homogeneous and more valuable biomass. As a matter of fact, insects are a good source of useful compounds, being rich in protein, fat, chitin, and micronutrients. These biomolecules can be used for different purposes, namely for feed/food ingredients, cosmetics, pharma, bioplastics, and others, actually upgrading the value of the starting waste. 

A Historic Serendipity 

Had we found no use of Mulberry silkworms, they would have been considered as a pest for mulberry crops. But interestingly, a sudden discovery around 2000 years ago in China, with a silkworm cocoon falling in the tea of a person sipping it, led to the discovery of silk – one of the most priced commodities for the textile industry. To make it more efficient, people started looking into other applications of silkworm and its by-products, as a result of which silkworm proteins are now being explored as a natural source of bio-active peptides, and have witnessed biopharma applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering and wound healing, as well as bio-materials application in textile coating, food processing applications and much more. Ultimately, genetics for strain improvement, more productive farming systems, preservation technologies for silkworm eggs, led to the further growth of the sericulture industry. Similarly, honey production and its applications in food, ayurveda, and biopharma industry led to the massive growth of bee-farming or apiculture. 

Thus, instead of looking at cockroaches and other insects as a nuisance, we can look at them as an efficient and profitable mechanism to treat waste. For instance, the palm industry suffers from Palm Weevil larvae infestation, but we still have no proper technology to deal with the crop residues of the highest edible oil producing plant. Maybe, Palm Weevil larvae, cultivated in a controlled industrial system, is the answer. Similarly, there are multiple insects which selectively feed on different crop residues, and luckily in our attempts to optimise pest management, we have already identified these insects, and studied them in great depths to understand their morphology and physiology. It’s now important to use our engineering skills to transform the science into a technology for mass producing these insects on agri and food by-products. 

Insects Turn Food Source 

As per the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the United Nations (UN), ‘Insects are the future of Food & Feed’. Notably, they are a dense source of nutrition, with 30-70 per cent protein and 20-40 per cent fats on a dry matter basis. Insects form part of the natural diet of birds and fish within their natural habitats. Poultry and aquaculture forms an integral part of the modern agriculture systems, primarily for the protein it provides. Alternative ingredients to produce formulated feeds at affordable prices and higher volumes are the need of the hour, due to the rising demand of animal-based food and feed worldwide of late. 

Global fishmeal (Fish Protein concentrate) production is today estimated to be at 4.5 million tonnes, whereas the projected demand is 6.5 million tonnes by 2030. 97 per cent soya is used in animal nutrition, which is limited in its production by arable land and portable water availability, along with other climatic and abiotic factors. Similarly, feed oil or fats are over-dependent on plant-based sources like Palm, Rapeseed, Cottonseed, etc. Thus, to sustain the growing poultry, aquaculture and pet food demand across India and the world, it is imperative that alternative ingredients are used along with traditional ingredients to bridge the volume gap, and also bring functional benefits for farmed animals. And this is exactly where farmed insects can be processed into high-quality proteins and fats for the animal nutrition industry in particular, among other sectors. 

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By Ankit Alok Bagaria, Co-Founder, Loopworm The conversion