The appeal is practical. Larvae can feed on market scraps, food-processing waste and other organic material, then be harvested as protein for poultry, pigs and fish while the leftover frass goes back to fields as a soil input. At a time of high feed costs and pressure to cut waste, that circular model is moving from pilot stage to working farm business in more parts of Kenya.
Why insect farming in Kenya is gaining ground
Recent field reporting from Nairobi described insects as some of the country’s clearest food-system success stories, with researchers highlighting their ability to recycle organic waste into fertilizer, reduce pollution and produce rich biomass for feed. On the ground, that science is being translated into training: a CGIAR-backed program in Kisumu introduced more than 50 farmers to black soldier fly production as a low-cost way to cut spending on feed and chemical fertilizer while restoring soil health.
The numbers are no longer marginal. In its Insects for Food and Feed programme, icipe says eight key entrepreneurs in Kenya alone produce more than 2,220 metric tons of dry insect protein, equal to about 4% of the country’s conventional animal-feed protein demand. The institute also says wider substitution of conventional feed ingredients with insect-based alternatives could improve incomes, create jobs and recycle biowaste that would otherwise go to dumpsites.
Projects are also getting more targeted. The Waste to Cash Eco Project is using black soldier fly value chains to make poultry feed and frass fertilizer for coffee and other crops while helping women and young people build enterprises around waste recovery, rearing and farm inputs.
That pipeline is starting to show up beyond research centres. In Nakuru, a Kenya News Agency report described an Egerton University student using maggot rearing to convert organic waste into cheaper feed for fish, poultry and pigs, an example of how insect farming is moving into youth-led agribusiness and local commercialization.
Insect farming in Kenya turns waste into three products
The economics are straightforward. Waste becomes larval feed. The larvae themselves become protein meal or live feed. The residue becomes frass, an organic fertilizer that can be sold or used on farm. That gives farmers several potential revenue or savings streams from one process, while also reducing pressure on imported feed ingredients and synthetic inputs.
For smallholders, the attraction is that black soldier fly units need relatively little land and can be set up close to waste sources. That makes them especially useful in peri-urban areas, where waste is abundant and livestock keepers are searching for cheaper protein sources for poultry, fish and pigs.
Insect farming in Kenya has been building for years
This is not a sudden story. Reuters reported in 2019 that Nairobi-area waste was already being fed to black soldier fly larvae to produce fertilizer and animal feed at Sanergy. Reuters then reported in 2020 that InsectiPro in Limuru was processing 20 to 30 tonnes of fruit waste a day into larvae meal and manure, while icipe said it had trained 2,000 black soldier fly farmers in Kenya over the previous year and a half. By 2024, the FAO was documenting small-scale farmers in Siaya using black soldier fly systems to cut feed costs in aquaculture, poultry and livestock.
That continuity matters. It suggests the Kenyan insect-farming story is moving from pilot projects and proof-of-concept farms toward a broader, more localised agribusiness ecosystem.
What could determine the next stage
Even with momentum, expansion will depend on steady waste collection, grinding and pre-processing equipment, consistent rearing standards, farmer training and stronger confidence among buyers who still know little about insect-based feed and frass. Public perception also remains a hurdle, since many first-time farmers still associate flies with dirt rather than with controlled waste-conversion systems.
Still, the direction is clearer than it was a few years ago. Kenya now has a mix of research institutions, county-level farmer training, youth innovation and working enterprises that are giving insect farming a practical identity: not a curiosity, but a circular farm business that can turn waste into feed, fertilizer and rural livelihoods.
