Work on the world's largest fly farm has begun in South Africa after the European firm behind the project won much-needed funding from investors, propelling the use of insects as livestock feed beyond academic theory to a commercial venture.

 

The project near Cape Town was conceived by a group of scientists and environmentalists racing to find protein alternatives as rising production of livestock feed such as soy gobbles up more and more valuable agricultural land.

 

The farm, being built by Gibraltar-based AgriProtein, will house 8.5 billion of flies that will produce tons of protein-rich larvae as they feed on organic waste.

 

Housing billions of flies that feed on more than 110 tonnes of rotting food and waste every day, the South Africa farm will be capable of producing 20 tonnes of larvae a day, 3.5 tonnes of larvae high in fatty acids, and 50 tonnes of organic fertilizers.

 

AgriProtein will use a combination of the black soldier fly, the blowfly and the common housefly. In cages, the flies will be fed a mix of spoiled or leftover food, manure, and abattoir waste. They will then be left to breed. Their larvae will afterwards be dried and processed into an animal feed.

 

Based on UK trials, Elaine Fitches of the U.K. government-run Food & Environment Research Agency said it would be possible to get on average 150 tonnes of protein from a hectare of land per year, significantly above 0.9 tonne of soy per hectare.

 

AgriProtein plans to grow beyond the first site, with work on a second farm set to begin next year in South Africa and a further 38 projects planned around the world.