Context: Studies show that the use of insect-based feed can be more cost-effective than traditional livestock feed.
Relevance of the Topic: Mains: Issues with traditional livestock production and benefits of insects based livestock feeds.
Recently, ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA) signed an MoU with Ultra Nutri India, Pvt. Ltd. to explore the possibility of using insect-based feed in aquaculture. This shift highlights the growing concerns around the environmental impact and health risks associated with traditional livestock feed systems.
Issues With Traditional Livestock Feed
- Environmental issues:
- High Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Livestock is a major emitter of methane and other greenhouse gases.
- Land & Water Intensive: Vast amounts of land and water are required to raise animals and grow their feed.
Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) Issue
- Antimicrobial compounds are used to treat diseases as well as to boost growth in turn raising productivity. Animal husbandry accounts for more than half of all antibiotic use around the world and is expected to increase to 200,000 tonnes by 2030, up 53% from 2013.
- The excessive or inappropriate use of antibiotics can lead to AMR, which endangers public health. Antibiotic residues in livestock guts create selective pressure, enabling bacteria to develop resistance genes. These genes spread into soil or water, raising the risk of human exposure, especially for agricultural workers.
- It has been projected that the number of deaths worldwide from antibiotic-resistant infections will increase from 700,000 a year in 2014 to 10 million by 2050.
- The use of such antibiotics is banned in developed countries and remains mostly unregulated in many countries, especially in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).
- Some common antibiotics in use as feedstock in LMICs are: Chloramphenicol, tylosin, and TCN (a powdered mixture of oxytetracycline, chloramphenicol, and neomycin).
- In humans, over-exposure to these drugs can eventually increase the risk of kidney disease, cancers, and aplastic anaemia.
These realities prompted researchers to explore the use of insect-based feed. As of today, 40 countries have accepted and issued regulations to use insect-based feed for animals.
Examples of such insects include :
- Black soldier flies, house flies
- Compost worm
- Grasshoppers (Locusts)
- Small mealworms
- House crickets
- Tropical crickets
- Jamaican field crickets
Given the rising global protein demand, the FAO estimates that food production must increase by 70% by 2050- making sustainable alternatives like insect-based feed even more critical.
Pros of insect-based livestock Feed:
- Nutritious: Insects are good sources of fats, proteins, fibres, and micronutrients like zinc, calcium, and iron.
- Naturally acceptable feed: In their natural habitat, both aquatic and terrestrial animals eat insects.
- Low greenhouse gas emissions: Rearing insects emits less greenhouse gases than rearing other sources of animal protein.
- Waste to feed: Insects can be reared on organic waste, turning low-value biomass into high-quality animal feed.
- Resource efficiency: Rearing insects requires fewer resources, especially land and water, compared to other livestock production enterprises.
- High Benefit to cost ratio: Insects like crickets need 12 times less feed than cattle to produce the same amount of protein.
- High Digestibility & Feed Efficiency: Insect-based feeds often provide more digestible proteins compared to fishmeal or soybean meal, making them more cost-effective.
Research has outlined the potential for insect-based feed to become a climate-smart alternative to conventional feed because of its ability to shrink the environmental footprint of livestock farming.