Roussoss Demisse is an agriprenuer engaged in black soldier flies farming.
He started practicing black soldier fly farming in a bid to help farmers address among other challenges the high cost of feeds.
Demisse also mentioned that he considered the venture to be able to turn waste into valuable products that can earn money.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
In an interview with The Standard, Demisse explained that he ventured into black soldier flies through his other investment, Mushroom Kenya.
Having interacted with different farmers, he realized that most of them were grappling with the high cost of animal feeds.
He started keeping black soldier flies in a bit to provide affordable feeds for the farmers.
“I researched and realized that black soldier flies were a good source of proteins for animals yet easy to start and require less space to set up. I got interested and decided to help the farmers address the challenge,” Demisse said.
Demisse also explained that he turned to the venture in a bid to exploit the idea of turning waste into valuable products.
“We now advocate for and offer sustainable management of food by providing a systematic approach that seeks to reduce wasted food and associated impacts over the entire life cycle, starting with the use of natural resources, manufacturing, sales, and consumption and ending with decisions on recovery or final disposal,” he held the opinion.
He started the venture in 2018 with Ksh 15,000 capital which he used to buy a kilo of pupae, a few jerrycans split into half used as trays and a small unit for housing the trays.
“We did not have a greenhouse because we could not afford one at that time. However, the capital required to start the venture highly depends on the scale and the expected output,” he added.
Demisse noted that he gets his waste from the market which he then prepares by sorting, washing, crushing and fermenting them.
“Once the feed is prepared, the daily operations involve feeding the larvae, checking the laying flies, harvesting ready pupae, and drying the harvested pupae,” he said.
From black soldier flies, he gets among other products the eggs which he sells at Ksh 2,500 per gram.
A gram can produce between three to four kilograms of maggots when hatched.
Demisse also sells maggots and pupae which go for Ksh 2,500 per kilo while dried pupae sell at Ksh 200 per kilogram.
“The venture has enabled me to lower the cost of feeds for my poultry project, which has allowed me to channel the feed’s cost to other projects,” he added.
The agriprenuer makes between Ksh 35,000 and Ksh 50,000 per month from product sales, farm visits, and training.
