Cricket Farming: Charles Odira is the proprietor of Mixa Farm in Kisumu, one of the few cricket farms in the country.

Odira says his journey to cricket farming started when he attended an agricultural fair held by a Non-Government Organization in Kisumu. While there, the NGO officials announced plans to start a cricket farming project and needed someone to create the equipment for cricket rearing.

Luckily, Odira had a background in fabricating materials that add value to agricultural produce and quickly convinced the NGO officials of his prowess for the job.

He was recruited as a project partner of the Flying Food organization, a European Based company dedicated to promoting crickets consumption. The organization took him on a benchmarking trip to South East Asia, where he says crickets are reared on a large scale.

While there, he realized cricket farming could be an intensive niche in Kenya as crickets are not labour-intensive.

Is snake farming a really profitable business?

Consequently, he returned to Kisumu with a resolution to become a cricket farmer. Being in the project, Odira understood the nutritional value of crickets. He says the insects have more protein than chicken, beef, or pork and are an ideal cure for malnutrition.

Other nutritional benefits of crickets include helping women replace the zinc lost through the menstrual cycle, boosting men’s sexuality, and being an alternative source of calcium and iron for expectant mothers.

Despite their immense nutritional benefits, Odira says most Kenyans don’t know crickets are edible. However, youths are now embracing the nutritional value of crickets, unlike older people, who are more rigid to change.

Unsurprisingly, Odira and his team are constantly developing ways to promote crickets consumption. They dry and mill the insects into a fine powder, then use it in baked foods such as bread, cookies, and scones. Customers can then consume the food without seeing the actual cricket.

Brothers striking riches in mixed farming

Apart from baked products, the farm sells cricket powder, which can be consumed by licking or as a food additive.

He says Kenyans are slowly embracing the consumption of crickets, as his farm is constantly delivering orders to Nairobi, Mombasa, and other locations. He says the deliveries are made via G4S services.

Challenges

Odira says his primary challenge in cricket rearing is a lack of professional knowledge. Because cricket rearing is a new venture in Kenya, it is unfamiliar to most agricultural officers, and there is little reference to cricket farming problems in Kenya.

Also, a bacterial infection destroyed most of his crickets in 2016, although he controlled it via poultry antibiotics. The final challenge is consumption, as Most people don’t know crickets are edible.

To anyone starting

If you’re looking to start in cricket farming, Odira advises starting with 50 insects, which you can buy from cricket farms or trap from the wild. With 50 crickets, you will have around 30 females and 20 males.

The females will lay about 300-500 eggs, and your cricket farm will be up and running. The startup capital is around Ksh 10,000, which would be used to create shelters, egg trays, and drinkers.

Gilbert Korir: Blindness hasn’t stopped me from earning a living as dairy farmer

To produce a kilo of crickets, Odira says the cost of production can be around 150ksh. However, the returns can be as high as Ksh 700. Like most livestock, crickets need clean water and a balanced diet.

Odira’s urge is for Kenyans to embrace cricket farming for business and consumption. His farm offers virtual and physical training to farmers and entrepreneurs who want to venture into cricket farming.

They also sell cricket eggs and guide customers through the entire process of production. According to him, cricket farming might be the country’s long-sought solution to food insecurity.