Khalilur Rahman, a young expatriate living in the United Kingdom, has brought insects from Britain to set up a farm in Biswanath, Sylhet. Named "Haji Biocycle Company", the black soldier fly farm stands beside his home in Teghori village, Khajanchi union. It is said to be the first of its kind in Sylhet division.

Inside a tin-shed house, five large mosquito nets form five cages holding the insects, which are fed on discarded food waste.

Khalilur said he had long wanted to do something in his homeland and first set up a quail and layer chicken farm in Biswanath. Because feed was expensive, he looked for a cheaper option and decided to farm insects. He bought 150 grams (about 150 insects) from a UK farm for 250 taka, brought them home and began farming on 26 June, aiming to start a "bioconversion innovative" centre in Bangladesh.

The insects contain 40 per cent protein and 20 per cent fat. A female lays 500 to 600 eggs, which hatch into larvae; after 21 days the larvae are ready to feed to birds and chickens. An insect is ready to lay eggs in 15 days and dies after laying, and the dead insects are a favourite food of quail and chickens. Leftover and rotten food is used as feed.

Insects for breeding can sell for 12,000 taka a kilogram, and for bird and poultry feed at 35 to 40 taka a kilogram, making it a profitable farm, he said. Three kinds of insect are farmed: beetles, crickets and black soldier fly. The farm now holds 35,000 to 40,000 insects, and he plans to expand commercially.

People of all ages come daily from across the upazila to see the unusual farm, and their interest has made him even more committed to it.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.