Abstract
The research aimed at assessing the perceptions and willingness of poultry farmers, feed traders and processors to use insects as a source of protein ingredient in poultry feed. The research used a cross-sectional design and a structured questionnaire to collect quantitative data from 287 poultry farmers and 71 feed traders from 3 culturally diverse regions in Uganda. The study findings revealed that majority of the farmers mixed their own poultry feed. Willingness to use insects in poultry feeds was expressed by over 70% of the farmers, feed traders and processors, indicating a strong potential demand for insect-based feeds. However, some poultry farmers doubted the possibility of acquiring insects (rearing/harvesting) in large enough quantities and the consumers’ acceptance of poultry products from birds raised on insect-based feed. Nonetheless, there is a high potential for adoption of insects for use as poultry feed if they can be produced in sustainable quantities that ensure the viability of poultry farming and the feed processing businesses.
 Int. J. Agril. Res. Innov. & Tech. 8 (2): 32-41, December, 2018
Highlights
The increase is expected to be accompanied by the doubling of livestock production including poultry, according to the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) (Veldkamp et al, 2012)
The results indicated that majority of poultry farmers were males
This implies that the involvement of men in an attempt to actualize the use of insects as poultry feed is crucial for successful adoption
Summary
The annual global turnover and sale of commercial feed is estimated at US$ 350 billion and needs to increase by 70% in order to feed the world population by 2050 (Van Huis et al, 2013). The demand for poultry feed will double, further increasing the demand for protein ingredients such as soybeans, cotton seed cake and fish meal (Maurer et al, 2016). The growing scarcity of resources to produce the increasingly demanded protein feed ingredients has resulted in their prices doubling (Veldkamp et al, 2012). This has led to prohibitive costs of feed, which accounts for 60-75% of the production costs (Heft-Neal et al, 2008). Continuing to rely on fishmeal and soybean as protein sources for animal feed production is increasingly becoming unsustainable (Van Huis et al, 2013)
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