Urban Agriculture : Cricket farming is the latest money code.

The art of insect rearing for commercial purposes originated from the Netherlands, but has now spread to different parts of the world including Africa.. Crickets are black or brown insects that belong to the class insecta, order Orthoptera and genus Acheta. They are categorized into two groups; house cricket and field cricket. These creatures are the latest money code in agriculture.

Crickets is independent of climate change. Farmers are able to rear them throughout the year and thus their profitability is ensured. This cheap startup has found its share in urban agriculture,the crickets can be raised in-house,outdoors in bucket,crates or bowls. The relative ease of raising these creatures coupled with the health benefits derived has made the cricket ,food of the future. Crickets have a higher feed conversion ratio converting most of their feed into protein. The insect has a high protein value an advantage that is tapped in area of malnutrition. Crickets are a rich source of fats, especially the polyunsaturated fatty acids ,they also contain minerals such as iron and zinc. Crickets can be used directly as food or ground into flour to fortify other foods. 

Cricket flour can be used as an ingredient to make products such as biscuits, cakes, porridge, chapati and mandazi. For example cricket farmers in Bondo have been incorporating cricket flour to make different confectioneries. Farmers in Kenya utilize buckets where female adults lay fertilized eggs under a wet cotton wool. After a month, the eggs hatch into nymphs that feed on vegetables, soy flour and water.It takes three months for crickets to mature into adult stage. An adult cricket weighs about 0.5- 1.5grammes. 

 Harvesting of the mature crickets is by emptying into boiling water for about 5 minutes. These are then cooled in cold water before being dried in a solar drier to a moisture content of below five per cent. This reduces the growth of bacteria and molds, making them have an extended shelf-life and safe for human consumption. MORE