The drought in Zimbabwe has become critical in recent months. The situation has led to complications for food production and, in the same vein, for crops.
However, farmers have come up with an innovative and surprising solution. It involves the cultivation of worms. What it consists of and how it has presented solutions.
Worm Farming: the original way to combat drought in Zimbabwe
In 2019, in southeastern Zimbabwe, Africa, a worm farming project emerged as an alternative to a long drought. The conditions had devastated the corn crops in the Nyangambe region.
But the proposal was not received as a ray of hope, but with skepticism and discomfort. Many farmers, already exhausted by the lack of food and resources, were faced with the idea of raising insects as a source of nutrition.
The drought in Zimbabwe has been going on for months.
At a key meeting where the proposal was presented, Mari Choumumba, a local farmer, shared what everyone was thinking: “We were alarmed,” she told Associated Press.
“What?! They’re flies, flies bring cholera,” some even protested, convinced that the risk of disease was much higher. However, reality was different.
According to spokespersons from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), today, farmers in Nyangambe have not only reduced their production costs by 40%, but they have found a new source of life in the larvae of the black soldier fly, a native species of South America.
Worm Farming: the process
The process involves breeding larvae that feed on decaying organic waste, becoming a rich source of protein for livestock.
The black soldier fly, the solution. (Photo: AP).
Robert Musundire, a professor specialized in entomology at the Chinhoyi University of Technology, explained to Africanews the importance of this protein source.
“It is even better than the raw protein we get from soybeans,” he said. The initiative turned out to be an economic and environmental lifesaver, as Zimbabwe produces approximately 1.6 million tons of waste per year, of which 90% can be recycled.
With climate change and persistent drought, the black soldier fly has become an ally. In Uganda, for example, these worms were key to addressing a fertilizer crisis derived from the war in Ukraine. In Nigeria and Kenya, their farming has been commercially successful.
This “circular system” methodology, as Musundire described it, offers an efficient life cycle where the larvae consume waste and result in a protein composition between 55% and 60%, ideal for livestock.
