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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Econ.
Sec. Agricultural Economics
Volume 4 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/frevc.2025.1519767
This article is part of the Research Topic Sustainable Innovations in Agriculture: Economic Analysis of Climate Smart Practices View all articles

Perspectives on the adoption of black-soldier fly-based larvae for animal feed among livestock farmers in sub-Saharan Africa

Provisionally accepted
Dieu-Merci Akonkwa Nyamuhirwa Dieu-Merci Akonkwa Nyamuhirwa 1*Shiferaw Feleke Shiferaw Feleke 2Paul-Martin Dontsop Nguezet Paul-Martin Dontsop Nguezet 3Dioukou Sissoko Dioukou Sissoko 4Bokar Moussa Bokar Moussa 5Abel-Gautier Kouakou Abel-Gautier Kouakou 6Seydou Zakari Seydou Zakari 7Tahirou Abdoulaye Tahirou Abdoulaye 6Victor Manyong Victor Manyong 2
  • 1 University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany
  • 2 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Dar es Salam, Tanzania
  • 3 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Mbuji MayI, Democratic Republic of Congo
  • 4 Institut d’Économie Rurale, Bamako, Mali
  • 5 Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger, Niamey, Niger
  • 6 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Bamako, Mali
  • 7 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Niamey, Niger

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Introduction: Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are increasingly promoted as cost-effective, and environmentally friendly source of protein in animal nutrition. However, there is limited information about farmers’ adoption rates and the factors influencing their adoption decisions in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This article assesses livestock farmers’ actual and potential adoption rates of BSFL and determinants of their adoption decisions. Methods: In this paper, we used the treatment effect framework approach on data collected from 1885 fish, poultry, and pig smallholder farmers in five cities of four West and Central African countries, including Kinshasa and Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Accra in Ghana, Bamako in Mali, and Niamey in Niger. Results and discussion: The results show that about 20 percent of surveyed farmers are aware of BSFL as a protein source in animal feed, and the actual adoption rate of BSFL is four percent. However, the treatment effect analysis showed that the adoption rate could quadruple if all farmers were aware. This result suggests that successful awareness creation can boost the actual adoption of BSFL, which currently stands at four percent. The awareness creation should target educated livestock farmers with access to group membership, credit, extension services, and diversified income sources to influence their decisions to adopt BSFL as a source of protein in animal feed.

    Keywords: Environment-friendly technology, Black-solider fly larvae, Livestock farming, animal nutrition, Treatment Effect Framework, Adoption

    Received: 30 Oct 2024; Accepted: 13 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Nyamuhirwa, Feleke, Dontsop Nguezet, Sissoko, Moussa, Kouakou, Zakari, Abdoulaye and Manyong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Dieu-Merci Akonkwa Nyamuhirwa, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany

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