The CEO of AgriMercarb, Luther Jesse Quashie, has reiterated the need to support small scale agribusinesses to grow.
He explained that the support will help them to employ more people thereby addressing the high rate of unemployment challenges of the teeming youth in the country.
Speaking with BusinessWeek in an interview, Quashie further added that when small scale businesses are supported, it will also boost the local production capacity of the country and ultimately improve food security.
There’s a need to support small scale businesses that are solving problems to grow and employ more people to address the unemployment challenge,” he prayed.
The AgriMercarb CEO noted that all small scale agribusinesses need is support to improve their capacity to meet the huge demands.
To bridge this gap is access to the right kind of finance. We need a much more patient capital and there are only few of such opportunities,” he stressed.
He stated his company was fortunate to have had support from the Kosmos Innovation Centre (KIC), which provided them with both technical and financial support to boost their business.
We received business advisory and financial a couple of years ago and even that we still need help because we are producing below our capacity despite the huge market,” he stated.
Kosmos Innovation Center is a non-profit organization that invests in young entrepreneurs and small businesses by providing seed funding, capacity building, and mentorship through innovation challenges to promote the development of promising local startup enterprises.
According to Quashie, the company, which into the production of Black Soldier Flies, plans to set up one production in every community to serve the rising demand for larvae which is a major protein source some livestock farming.
He advised young entrepreneurs to undertake a lot of research before venturing into a particular business.
He added that entrepreneurs must have a problem solving mentality rather than profit orientated to succeed.
You can’t put someone who has no passion to do this because it is very demanding and we need to change our minds to realise that there are opportunities in this field that’s begging for attention,” he intimated.
AgriMercarb, which started with just four individuals, has now employed 13 people.
Black Soldier Fly farming is presently the most widespread form of insect farming in the world. The Black Soldier Fly is ideally suited for food production due to its rapid production cycle and high concentration of protein. The high percentage of protein in the larvae makes them an ideal source of food for a wide variety of animals including poultry, pig and catfish.
During the breeding phase, also referred to as the hatchery phase, the eggs deposited by adult Black Soldier Flies are placed in vertically racked containers filled with compost consisting of residual waste streams such as organic food waste. Under completely controlled climate conditions, the eggs hatch very quickly into tiny Black Soldier Fly larvae.
Sustainability
Insect farming is, in principle, much more efficient and sustainable than the farming of cattle, pigs, and poultry. Insects are 4 to 10 times more efficient in converting nutrients into body mass. In addition, insect larvae feed on a wider range of residual waste streams that are efficiently converted into protein-rich body mass.
Also, insect farming requires much less space and water, and the emission of greenhouse gases also appears to be lower. In short, an insect farming business offers a sustainable solution for the growing global demand for protein.
