FARMERS in the Nyangambe area in Chiredzi have embraced the implementation of the black soldier fly initiative, a climate smart agriculture technique that boosts poultry production.
The implementation of the technique comes as formal knowledge about traditional free-range chicken production in tropical countries is increasing, but still limited with high mortality and slow growth caused by diseases, predation, external parasites and accidents.
The black soldier fly, scientifically called Hermetia Illucens, is a common, medium-size, predominantly black-coloured fly with shiny wings gaining global attention for devouring organic waste and turning it into compost or for the use of its larvae as animal feed.
Over the years, black soldier fly has been adopted as an intervention and a new phenomenon in many communities as part of resilience-building in the area.
It is being implemented by the United States Agency for International Development (USAid) through the Resilient Anchors Activity.
Clemence Musweremumwe, a farmer from Village 2A, ward 23 in Nyangambe, said since he started the black soldier fly project, his life and the health of his chickens has changed.
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“This project brought into our community by the Resilience Anchors has brought notable change, which has seen me being able to provide for my family and at the same time send my children to school,” Musweremumwe said.
“Before we knew of the benefits of black soldier fly, our poultry was being greatly affected in terms of health and high mortality rates, but things have since changed.”
Another farmer Elizabeth Chizuze said: “Since the pitching and implementation of the project, I have seen chicken multiplication and growth. We are now economically stable as we supply nearby markets with chickens and eggs.”
Resilience Anchors field co-ordinator Prisca Nyagweta told NewsDay Weekender that the black soldier fly pilot project is anchored on indigenous poultry farming aimed at improving food security at household level.
“We are covering three districts, Chiredzi, Bikita and Chipinge, where we are doing climate smart agriculture as a component of Resilience Anchor’s activities in an effort to address the various challenges due to climate change,” she said.
“The black soldier fly is one of the components that we are covering under climate smart agriculture.”
Nyagweta said the project is an initiative to assist the farmers to make improved feed for their indigenous poultry.
“They set up traps to trap the black soldier fly, harvest it, process it and mix it with feed and other home-grown foods such as sorghum, millet, cowpeas, sunflower to make this improved feed which they can feed to their poultry to improve growth rates, to improve quality of meat, to improve laying percentage for laying hens and also generally to reduce chick mortality,” she said.
“The overall objective is to improve food security and incomes of farmers because after they produce their chickens, we will link them to markets for them to be able to sell their poultry either as chickens or as eggs to get income and diversify their livelihood sources.”