Farming bugs for a sustainable future

When the thought of farming comes to mind, one tends to think of rolling fields covered in an expanse of crops or animals grazing on pastures.

However, as the human population grows and the demand for farmland, crops and meat increases, Isandovale resident Joanne Techow believes humans need to look at alternative food sources.

Joanne, an insect farmer, entrepreneur and owner of Eastleigh-based Ensekta, hopes to create awareness about the benefits of incorporating insects in one’s diet.

All the food Joanne produces uses insects as an alternative food source. She aims to produce foods that use practices that promote a positive environmental impact.

“Crickets are a superfood, about 50 to 60% of a cricket’s body is made of protein,” said Joanne.

Joanne explained that crickets are also considered a complete protein because they contain all nine essential amino acids.

She said gram for gram crickets also have more calcium than milk and more iron than spinach.

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Joanne, who has a zoology degree and business management diploma, started farming insects in 2017 after volunteering with the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) in 2016.

While a volunteer, she was tasked with researching alternative food sources and alternative livelihoods in the Groot Marico area.

Joanne said some farming was being done unsustainably, so EWT wanted to research ways to change this but ensure community members still had a livelihood.

One of the alternative food sources Joanne came across in her research was insect farming.

Joanne said although jokes are made about insects being eaten in Asia, the country which she most frequently came across during her alternative food source research was the United States of America.

“When I spoke to my family who stays in America, they said that it is big over there,” explained Joanne.

After starting her insect farming journey with Endoki, Joanne branched out on her own and started farming by herself.

She started with two shelving racks and eight black boxes that can each hold 8kg of crickets each and grew from there.

Joanne said because her insects are for human consumption, she feeds them chicken feed to ensure they are as healthy as possible.

She explained by adding spice such as cinnamon or vegetables like pumpkin she can change the flavour profile of the insects.

Joanne now raises mealworms and silkworms in addition to crickets.

Although she understands that the idea of eating six-legged creatures may not be appealing to everyone, Joanne hopes this mindset will change as time goes on.

She incorporates insects into her diet when her stock allows.

“At first I ate them regularly, especially when testing out new recipes; however, lately I haven’t. I’ve been focusing on supplying my customers.”

One quick and easy meal Joanne enjoyed is a cricket taco.

Joanne would just replace the mince in a taco with crickets, add salsa, her vegetables and enjoy.

To prepare the insects for consumption, Joanne said the insects need to be cleaned and then boiled for at least five minutes at 100ºC.

She said once they are boiled, the final cook, which is either fry or a roast, can be done.

“Because insects are so anatomically different to humans, the risk of catching diseases is much lower,” highlighted Joanne.

“However, like any food source like chicken or pork, there is always the risk of it carrying certain bacteria, which is why you need to prepare all food properly.”

Ways in which Joanne tries to make the insects more appealing include grinding the cooked crickets into a powder, making the mealworms into granola, dipping the silkworm pupae in chocolate and making cricket biscuits.

Joanne encouraged community members to learn more about insect-based diets and to try to have one insect protein-based meal a week.

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