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Insect farming is known to utilise minimal energy, Her work with the industry, namely
land and water compared to commodity crops such as Ain Aquaculture Sdn Bhd in Kota
soybean and corn. BSF has shown to produce more Bharu, Kelantan focused on
protein per square feet with the optimum condition producing feed for their fish farm. In
compared to popular plant protein sources. A single this project, they are also keen to use
BSF adult can deliver up to 500 eggs during her BSF to mitigate the waste issue
lifetime, which indicates a high reproductive capacity. locally. At the same time, this
The most interesting fact about BSF is its venture helps to alleviate the socio-
bioconversion ability. They are able to convert any economy of the communities
organic waste into high valuable biomass. Since they involved. Another project undertaken
can accept any organic waste stream as their food by her is the production of poultry

source, this led to the sustainable use of this insect feed. Today, feed constitutes the
for feed manufacturing. highest proportion of operation cost
in the farming industry. The
The nutrition content of BSF larvae is why the animal increasing price of imported feed
nutritionists were drawn to them. Generally, the creates a ripple effect of local
prepupae stage could contain up to 40-50% protein chicken price in the market. Besides,
level depending on what we feed them. Most BSF the Halal status — which is an
farmers opt for plants by-products such as vegetable important standard to the local
waste, palm oil, and coconut by-products to be used community — is questionable on
as BSF feed substrates. Besides novel protein imported feed.
sources, BSF larvae are also known to contain
antimicrobial peptides, chitin and lauric acid, useful in As a way forward, Dr Norhidayah and
enhancing the immune system. Several reports have her collaborator, Koperasi Mahsari
revealed that the dietary supplementation of BSF Tanah Merah Berhad based in

could boost immune responses. Kelantan work together to solve this
issue. With the help of BSF and other
Due to all these facts, Dr Norhidayah Mohd Taufek locally produced ingredients, they
from the Institute of Biological Sciences, together are invested in creating high quality
with her team, have focused their efforts on and Halal certified feed for the
developing novel feed products using alternative poultry industry in Kelantan.
ingredients such as BSF.
Although this tiny insect larva has
great potential in many ways,
researchers still need to address the
limitations, particularly when it
comes to industrial scalability. High
automation, waste management and
quality control of the insect are some
of the essential factors that need to
be considered. Highly equipped
Our family talent pool
technologies, technical expertise
supported by strong R&D and
is growing. We're
business development will
proud to have 2 new
simultaneously improve the BSF
industries while impacting local
doctors, 2 designers food
security in the long run.
and a lawyer!
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