About Maggot Rearing

IN as much as farmers in Gwanda district are more into cattle rearing, they also take pride in small livestock rearing such as chickens and goat production. Goats are admired for their resilience and adaptability to harsh climatic conditions whilst cows are deemed as the true representation of wealth amongst the native Gwanda farmers. Poultry production is also an important part of the District’s economy mostly tended to by women for business (profit-making) and as a supplement to their family’s diet. Livestock farmers were threatened and affected by the change in climatic conditions leading to scramble for grazing land, water and other resources key for the survival of livestock. Poultry production has not been exempt to these effects as farmers did not have small grains to use as feed for their chickens. As they gathered pods and prepared haybales for their livestock (goats and cattle), farmers also produced supplementary feed for poultry through maggot rearing.

Maggots are the larval stage of flies and maggot rearing is the process of breeding and raising fly larvae. For Gwanda District, maggot rearing is an innovation that offers a solution to the agricultural challenges such as the unavailability of feed for poultry. The process involves breeding flies in a controlled environment that has food waste, chicken droppings and water to breed eggs. It is mainly done in the summer season where temperatures are warmer as warm weather facilitates the process of the hatching of eggs into maggots. The hatching process of eggs to maggots takes a period from 8 to 20 hours and the process is determined by the temperatures they are subjected to. These maggotries should preferably be located away from human residence in places where there are trees. The leaves of the surrounding trees serve to absorb the odour from the maggoty and the ambient temperature. Maggots are very revolting and the sight of them could easily make one vomit, but to a chicken they are a juicy treat. Apart from the good taste maggots are nutritious and rich in proteins, a vital element in every livestock feed. In seasons of bounty, maggots can be dried up and stored for later use.

After receiving training from Brethren in Christ- Compassionate and Development Service’s Agriculture Extension Officers on maggot rearing, the innovation has become a rescue especially to the farmers who received indigenous chickens for rearing. The innovation has been advantageous to farmers that are into broiler production as they use broiler chicken droppings to make maggots for their indigenous chickens. Maggot rearing has encouraged the appreciation and recycling of locally available resources that are at the farmer’s disposal as a means of adaptation to different climatic conditions and diversification of feed for poultry production. Despite the challenges, maggot rearing holds promise as a sustainable way to support livestock.