Save a forest by fighting protein deficiency

The bugs are sleeping, but the SEPALI team is not. Due to the arrival of the chillier winter months in Madagascar (yes, Madagascar has a winter), insect rearing has been slow while the larvae develop in their sanctuaries. The giant water bugs are, well, giant. They are still in their adult phase and the team is patiently waiting for them to mate and lay eggs. The dragonfly larvae (nymphs) are still swimming around in their little habitats working on growing big enough to look edible.

In the meantime, the SEPALI staff are busying themselves with silk production and a new project: natural dyes. In an effort to make a natural black dye to fulfil a set of unusual silk orders, the team succeeded in making dark blue, gray, burnt orange, and brown. Some of their “mistakes” actually turned out to be quite beautiful and the solitary quest for black dye has turned into a fascinating experiment featuring many different species of plants.

The first attempt was conducted with local water lilies. The SEPALI team harvested and boiled down a batch of lilies until the water was a deep-red color. Using vinegar as a fixer, the cocoons were soaked in the dye until they began to turn a light gray-blue color.  In an attempt to take the color a little further, the team tried soda ash as a fixer for round two and achieved a much deeper-blue, nearly black in appearance.

Over the past couple of months, the experiments have expanded to include many species of plants including onion skins, yellow Azine tree roots, red Nato tree bark, and a vine called Engitra. And the most surprising to us? The bright, burnt-orange cocoon was dyed with just a couple of onion skins, resulting in a surprisingly vivid color! You can see the plants and corresponding results in the pictures below. 

We’ll keep you posted in the next couple of weeks with updates on dyes and textiles and hopefully our insect-pets will show their little faces again soon!

The latest trend in western "foodie" culture is old news to most of the rest of world. Across the Americas, Asia and Africa, eating insects has long been an established practice. And for good reason: when examining input and outputs, insects are one of the most cost-effective protein sources in the world. While cows require 8g of food for every 1g of weight gain, many insects require less than 2g of food for the same weight gain.

Rising populations, especially in developing nations, are putting enormous strain on the existing protein-production systems, resulting in protein-deficiency related issues. Madagascar is no exception. With 23 million people and a steady growth rate among the highest in Africa, protein-production systems in Madagascar are already inadequate.

The SEPALI team in Madagascar is working hard to change that. In our particularly isolated region, insect consumption is already present, but it is considered a somewhat desperate measure and lacks a formal market. The SEPALI team is hoping to turn the tide in Maroantsetra by introducing a viable business model for insect protein production.

After discovering the Orychtes beetle in 2014, the team has been actively rearing the beetle larvae in the broken-down Talandoha branches (a by-product of the silk production process). "We must wait for several months before checking the progress of the rearing because the life cycle of the Orychtes beetles is very long," says Director, Mamy Ratsimbazafy.

Our second discovery of edible insects was the Fulgoridae, Hemiptera, featured in the previous report. This species was discovered in November by SEPALI farmer, Fenozara Justin, who was interested in pioneering the project and had eaten the insect as a child. So far in 2015, Fenozara Justin has planted over 200 host plants of for this species and is working closely with the SEPALI staff to define rearing methods. The Fulgoridae feeds on a type of bean vine that many farmers grow on their farm for food. In the future, if SEPALI is able to master the technical rearing methods for this species, farmers will be able to harvest not only the beans, but also the insects for protein resources.

Our biggest, scariest, latest discovery is a species of giant water bug that has graced the SEPALI demonstration site frequently with its presence. The scientific name is Leptocerus, of the family Belostomatidae (order Heteroptera). The giant water bugs are caught during the night with light traps that the SEPALI team frequently uses to monitor native species in the area. Leptocerus are voracious predators, feeding on worms, fish, snails and other insects and are capable of delivering a bite to humans, albeit a non-dangerous one. The large bug, however, is also a temptingly rich protein snack. In fact, these giant water bugs are already a popular food source in Thailand. In the weeks to come, the SEPALI team will be building special rearing equipment to allow them to study the life cycle of this species and mastering the technical rearing methods to pass on to farmers when the time is right.