“May be, I would try insects, but caterpillars mmh!” one person was heard in the gathering......................

Did you know that insects and caterpillars are also food for human? My grandmother once told me “anything birds eat, human can eats! “According to Christian Ratompoarison and others findings, there are about 65 edible insects identified in Madagascar. Strange?

Insects and caterpillars were considered as food for poor households or communities during the famines. Surprisingly, the trend is now changing worldwide. In Tropentag 2019, number of researchers presented their research findings about edible insects and caterpillars in Africa and Asia. Edible insects and caterpillars form sustainable ecosystem between environments and nutrition. Case studies from Madagascar, Myanmar, Kenya and Uganda were presented during the poster sessions in Tropentag 2019.

Approximately 239 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa could be free from micronutrient deficiency, if only they chew on the nutrient laden sap of the tasty insects around them. Nils Nölle poster at the #Tropentag 2019 highlights this and more.



While the potential of insects to serve as alternative protein sources is already gaining reasonable traction, Nils Nölle, a student of the University of Hohenheim, chose to sail uncharted waters. His objective was to investigate the potentials of edible insects to combat hidden hunger, a less researched area. Using target edible insect species that included long-horned grasshopper, edible cricket, shea butter caterpillar, cabbage tree emperor moth and Zambezi emperor moth from Kenya and Uganda; samples were analysed for provitamins (vitamin B2 and carotenoids) and dietary minerals.