Talash Hujibers pursued her studies in the Netherlands, focusing on a degree in International Food and Agribusiness.
Upon her return to Kenya, she aimed to apply her academic knowledge by investing in the agribusiness sector.
In a discussion with Nation, she revealed that her original intention was to engage in fish farming; however, she soon recognized the significant market demand for protein feeds.
With an initial investment of Ksh 250,000, Talash established InsectiPro in November 2018.
“InsectiPro is here to tackle two of the biggest challenges that Africa is going to face in the coming decade: food production and waste
“We feel that these two challenges go hand in hand. We want to disrupt the existing food value chain and encourage circular production methods,” she said.
On the farm, she cultivates black soldier flies and crickets.
The larvae of the black soldier fly require a growth period of 10 days, during which they are nourished with fruit waste obtained from markets throughout Nairobi.
“We take the green waste and we turn it into animal protein. We hope that by introducing crickets, there will be a progressive appreciation for edible insects as viable animal protein substitutes in Kenya,” she said.
Talash elaborated that crickets can be consumed either as a complete, crunchy snack or in powdered form, which can be incorporated into various food items.
She highlighted that cricket powder can enhance dishes such as ugali, chapati, cookies, baby formula, and smoothies, among others.
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The farm processes approximately 20 to 30 tonnes of fruit waste daily, yielding up to 1.5 tons of larvae, which are subsequently dried and converted into animal feed.
She prices a kilogram of cricket powder at Ksh 2,500, while the larvae are sold for Ksh 120 per kilogram, and the fertilizer is available at Ksh 30 per kilogram.
“The powder we produce is used to fortify porridge, mainly for a school feeding program. We are currently conducting research and development on various production models to scale output of crickets
“Our goal is to double our cricket-producing capacity in the next one year and produce three tonnes of dry cricket products in the next three years,” Talash noted.
Talash produces a cricket snack known as Chirrups, which consists of crickets that are dried using a microwave oven.
These snacks are sold at a price of Ksh 100 for a 20-gram package and have a shelf life of up to four months.
Additionally, with the assistance of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Talash has been conducting production trials involving mealworms and grasshoppers.
“We have worked with the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) in conjunction with ICIPE to ensure that we have food safe production standards and policies guiding cricket production, processing, and commercialisation in Kenya,” she stated.
Talash hopes to expand to Uganda, Rwanda and Ghana.
“We hope to increase the current production capabilities to be able to take up more waste and expand our edible insect lines into grasshoppers and also experiment with palm weevils and mealworms,” she added.
