Orphans in DRC fed palm weevil larvae in bid to beat malnutrition

At an orphanage in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) capital Kinshasa, more than 60 children stared at their plates of palm weevil larvae fried in spices, sharing nervous smiles, before curiously digging into the thick white worms.

The orphans are being fed the protein-rich larvae, known locally as mpose, as part of an initiative by the Kinshasa-based non-profit organisation Farms for Orphans, which is seeking to address malnutrition in the west African nation.

About a quarter of the country's 99-million population faces a food crisis and half of all orphans are suffering from malnutrition, according to the World Food Programme.

Edible insects, including larvae, are increasingly being studied for their potential as a sustainable alternative form of protein to meat, either for human consumption as in DRC, or for animal feed in Benin. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, insects can be a rich source of fat, protein, vitamins, fibre and minerals.

“It is scientifically proven meat does not have a higher protein concentration than insects, and it's not easy to get meat so we wanted to make it simpler,” said Francoise Lukadi, an agricultural engineer who runs Farm for Orphans.

She said the nutrient deficiency was particularly acute in children under five.

The larvae are typically cooked with onions, peppers and tomatoes, and have a cheese-like taste.

“It is important for children to eat mpose because of the proteins, as some children are abandoned in a state of malnutrition,” said Nelly Mimpi, nutritionist and food health supervisor at the orphanage.

Farms for Orphans received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for its initial research and launch, but Lukadi hopes to produce enough larvae to sell commercially to subsidise the donations to orphanages.

The organisation supplies four restaurants in Kinshasa, where palm worms are becoming increasingly popular.

Her team produces up to 300kg of palm larvae per month, and provides meals to several hundred children per quarter, but she wants to boost production to satisfy growing commercial demand.

Though her team is studying how to grow and harvest the larvae sustainably in laboratories at the University of Kinshasa and the National Institute of Biomedical Research, some critics said it would be difficult to ramp up production to a commercial scale due to a lack of resources.

According to several peer-reviewed studies, commercial scale insect farming could also pose food safety risks, as some insect farming requires feed crops that could otherwise go directly towards human consumption.

Farmers in Benin are also experimenting with the potential for insect protein.

Jules Mahinou, a 25-year-old at the head of a group of young poultry farmers called the Elevart Group, breeds black soldier flies in Cotonou, Benin, to produce fly larvae as a source of protein-rich animal feed.

“We're operating on a shoestring. Everything is done manually,” Mahinou said, adding he hopes they'll be able to mechanise and produce substitutes for fish and soybean meal.