Cycle Farms, a French biotechnology company, has opened its first insect meal facility in Ghana. The facility is located in Tema and is the first industrial-scale black soldier fly larvae production facility in Ghana. The company will also produce feed for tilapia farming using its own insect meal helping to reduce feed prices, one of the major bottleneck to the expansion of aquaculture in Africa.

Marc-Antoine Luraschi, CEO of Cycle Farms, said that the company was attracted to Ghana by the stable economic environment and the maturity of the fish production sector. He aims to produce 3,500 tons of insect-based protein in 2019, but plans to steadily scale up production as the Ghanaian market grows.

The company aims at using internally-produced insects and several other ingredients to produce fish feed with a protein content ranging from 33 to 56 percent, depending on the life stage of the tilapia. Floran Laville, chief technical officer, said that “the company’s focus now is on the production of feed for fingerlings, because the available feed are mostly imported. We are producing high quality feed which will enable fish to achieve optimum size and health. This is crucial, if you want to harvest tilapia of high quality and size.”

The company’s current strategy is focused on fingerling diets, but tailor-made feed and new species as catfish and shrimp are future possibilities.

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