After graduating with a Food and Agribusiness degree from the HAS Green Academy in the Netherlands, Talash Huijbers returned to Kenya with a mission to farm fish.
“But I realised that we could not produce enough fish due to the high cost of feeds. The most expensive part of feed is protein, so I thought to myself, why farm protein at the end of the chain when there is a bigger problem in the middle?” She poses.
This led her to search for alternatives in the animal feed industry, and she landed on insects.
“One night I found myself clicking on one link and then another and by 5am I thought to myself, ‘This is amazing. Why is nobody else doing it?” she says of her Eureka moment.
So in 2018, at Red Hill, Limuru, Insectipro, a company that produces animal feed and snacks from insects, was birthed.
Her mission is to show that farming is not only about having a jembe (hoe). “There is a lot of innovation, science and technology that goes into it. Now we are looking to see how we can incorporate artificial intelligence into our farming.”
With her first bunch of black soldier flies from the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe)and a one-acre piece of land that she leased, Talash got the ball rolling.
Founder of insectipro Talash Huijbers poses with different flavors of cricket snacks on July 30, 2024 at Insectipro farm in Kiambu county.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
“The black solider fly lays the eggs, we incubate the eggs in our hatchery and after five days, they are called 5-day-old larvae. After 10 days we have mature flies that are ready for harvesting. We steam the flies to first kill them and any bacteria that may be on them. We then dry the insects and they can be used to replace fish meal and soy in animal feed,” she says.
The feed sells for Sh130 a kilo. Talash says that the feed is fast becoming a favourite among farmers.
“The reason it is gaining popularity is because it is available all year round. We have two distribution points in Meru and Bomet then the rest are picked from the farm or delivered,” she explains.
Insectipro relies on Nairobi’s waste to feed the flies. “Every day, we collect waste food from Nairobi and crush it into a paste. We then mix it with avocado pulp to get the feed. Right now, we are processing over 60 tonnes of waste a day.”
She has over 2,000 crates of flies in over 12 greenhouses. In the greenhouse, quality checkers check to ensure that black soldier flies are harvested in good condition.
She explains that the ice-brown colour on the flies is an indication that that they are healthy. She adds, “We harvest 90 percent of the colony and leave the rest to develop and lay eggs, and the process starts again. Whenever we want fresh genetics, we go back to Icipe.
Though for backup, we have a small colony of black soldier flies in Nakuru.”
One of the end products of black soldier flies is their poop which is a good organic fertiliser.
Penetrating the market
To tap into the animal feed market, Talash works with agronomists who are out in the field, guiding farmers on best farming practices. Her source of joy is the positive feedback she gets from farmers who utilise the organic fertiliser, “who say they have experienced fewer pests and diseases or that the maize and sorghum stalks were very thick that season or that the avocados have fewer blemishes.”
In another part of Limuru, on her father’s farm and further away from the black soldier flies, lies Talash’s cricket farm.
“They had to be kept further apart because of biosecurity. Crickets are for human consumption, so we have to keep them in a different place from the flies, especially because they consume all of Nairobi’s trash,” the 28-year-old explains. The crickets are grown, harvested, and microwaved for human consumption.
Black soldier flies greenhouse pictured on July 30, 2024 at Insectipro farm in Kiambu county.
Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation Media Group
“In 2020, we discovered that insects are very nutritious for people. So we started growing crickets. They start off as eggs,” she says as she points at tiny white eggs in a crate with coco peat.
“Then, after 10 days, they hatch. After four or five weeks, when they are fully grown and in good size, we harvest them before they develop their wings. We must harvest before the wings develop because the wings stick in your mouth and give you a weird mouth feel.”
To ensure the continuity of the colony, Talash ensures that 20 percent of the crickets develop into adulthood and lay eggs.
“They lay eggs in coco peat, and we scrape them off daily. Then, the process starts again.
Taking care of the crickets
“We have formulated a feed for them and we also grow sukuma wiki for them to feed on. The younger crickets are given water through wet mattresses, as they can easily drown in water. The older ones require that there be lava stones in the eggs for them to have a place to rest.
The crickets are housed in climate cells as they require good humidity and warm temperatures. Since Limuru is very cold, it is necessary for us to have climate cells. In their climate cells, the crickets are all arranged in rows. Every week we harvest one row then we put a new row.”
Processing
Right before the crickets are harvested, they are fed with butternut to induce diarrhoea. “Before processing them, they need to empty their guts.”
Once harvested, the crickets are packaged in paper bags and frozen.
Harvested crickets frozen in a freezer at insectipro farm located in Limuru Kiambu county on July 30, 2024.
“Since they are cold-blooded, once they are put in the refrigerator, they go into hibernation and die slowly. The crickets are then put in the microwave at 120 degrees for 10 minutes to ensure that they are crunchy and all the microorganisms are dead and they are safe for consumption.”
Insectipro also adds different flavours to the crickets. Currently it offers salt and vinegar, caramel, cinnamon, and barbecue flavours.
“Our most popular flavour among expatriate is salt and vinegar; locally, it is barbecue, probably because it gives a nyama choma reminiscence. We are now working on a kachumbari flavor. We have also worked on cricket powder, and is very popular among gym goers who use it in the same way as whey protein.”
The cricket snacks are packaged in 20g packets, each retailing at Sh100, and the powder retails at Sh1,350 for a 500-gramme packet.
Mealworms
Talash’s latest exploration is the mealworms they began keeping in December 2023. “We intend to grow them to maturity, dry them, and package them for export. They are used as pet food in Europe,” an excited and hopeful Talash says.
Developing a thick skin
What started as a small business with startup capital of around Sh200,000 has grown into a multimillion-dollar business that has necessitated an investment of more than two million dollars (Sh260 million). Insectipro is still looking for more funding to expand its operations.
Talash says that her agripreneurship journey has required her to develop a thick skin.
“You cannot build a business in agriculture without being determined. Being a woman in a male-dominated field was not easy. My biggest hurdle has been showing people that insects are part of our future, changing their perception.”
Her advice for aspiring entrepreneurs is “When seeking to start your business you should ask yourself, ‘what problem am I hoping to solve? Is there a ready market? Where will you get the raw materials that you will need?”
Talash emphasises the need for a reliable and efficient workforce. “The second person I hired after myself was a human resource officer. It is important to recognise your strengths and weaknesses and then hire people to help you with your weaknesses.”
