From black soldier flies to mealworms: farming insects for food, fodder and fertiliser in Uganda
Refugees in Uganda's Kyaka II settlement are successfully farming black soldier fly larvae to provide sustainable feed for livestock and fertilizer for crops. This initiative helps families improve food security and generate income in a resource-constrained environment.
Why it matters
It demonstrates how circular economy practices can provide practical solutions for food security in refugee populations.
Cultivating the nutritious bugs means families can raise livestock and enrich their own food, while lowering pressures on the land
About this content Wed 14 Oct 2026 11.00 BST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google A few minutes’ walk from his home in the Kyaka II refugee settlement, Kanane Bikanyale feeds black soldier fly larvae to chickens in a coop above a fishpond. The larvae disappear in a scrum of chickens. Nearby, more larvae grow in modified jerrycans, while adult flies are kept in netted boxes.
Bikanyale kept chickens before he fled to Uganda from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). But the cost of conventional feed and shortages of ingredients made them increasingly difficult to raise – a widespread pressure for millions of smallholder farmers whose margins are tight.
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