Entrepreneurial Potentials of Insect Farming in Nigeria

Insects provide a wild variety of uses and benefits ranging from Agriculture to medicine, industries and research. They have been reared for food, feed, silk production and dye making. Recently, a lot attention has been drawn worldwide to the usefulness of insect in the food and feed industry because of their high nutrition contents and environmental sustainability. For these reasons, a lot of insect based entrepreneurs have sprung up in Africa in response to this development, but in Nigeria only few entrepreneurs are interested in engaging in insect farming due to information gap. This research aims to bridge the gap by identifying species of insects that can be farmed, for what purpose they are farmed, potentials embedded in insect product development, and factors affecting edible insect entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Data were sourced by querying many research databases outlets such as science direct, researchgates, google scholar, Ajol and so on. This research identifies palm weevil, crickets, grasshopper and pallid emperor moth as insect that can be farmed with high demand as food in Nigeria. The maggot of housefly and Black soldier fly are recommended for animal feed and silk warm for textile industry. The review recommends that the government should encourage insect entrepreneurs in Nigeria through training and improve extension services.

locally. Potentials embedded along its value chain are enormous. There are ready made markets for insect and insect products nationwide and internationally, but poor information of its value and usage has made entrepreneurs not to venture into it. People still have the notion of the difficulties of having to harvest them from the wild, which is tasking and many times not financially rewarding. Furthermore, seasonal fluctuations affects availability of insects from the wild. Recently, commercial and intentional farming of insect for profit is now the practice worldwide. Products such has silk clothes, honey bee production, cricket biscuit, cricket flour, Bayelsa suya e.t.c.can be targeted by entrepreneurs to make viable entrepreneurial ventures that can reduce unemployment, poverty while creating sources of income which will raise the standard of living. This research attempts to identify insect diversity in Nigeria for food and feed, products that can be gotten from insect commonly seen in Nigeria, explain method of farming of some selected insect in Nigeria and discuss the insect value chain present in Nigeria.

Methodology
Search were made on keywords like "edible insect farming", "edible Insect products", "edible insects and entrepreneur" these were mostly centered on research outcomes worldwide. The search was done on "Google Scholar", "PubMed", "Science-Direct", "Scopus"and "Web of Science"databases. Many journals' sites were queried for information on edible insect and their potential uses. Springer, Elsevier, Ajol and dissertation search engines like Open-thesis, OATD, ProQuest and EthOs were put to use. Also information were utilized from Authors experience through observations and interacting with stakeholders in edible insect Industry.

Figure 1: showing stages of Entrepreneurial involvements of edible insects
Edible insect is tipped worldwide as a product with potentials as human food, animal feed and industries. The entrepreneurial potential is enormous ranging from production to processing. Before it gets to its final consumers ( fig. 1), entrepreneurs may decide to stay at the any stage of entrepreneur engagement. Those interested in alone production level alone may maintain this level so far there is ready market for its products. Likewise entrepreneurs may occupy the position of a processor leveraging on what the producers produce. Business owners could stay along the value chain of retailing the products to the consumer. All through edible insect value chain are hidden employment opportunities especially for youths in developing countries.

Entrepreneurial potentials of farming Insects for food
Edible insects fed upon by Nigerians are usually collected from the wild, this are mostly affected by seasonality, quality time wastage during harvesting, little quantity collected. Subsequently, because of its scarcity there will be breakage in the supply of edible insect hence high pricing. In Nigeria especially in rural area which are closer to the wild, insect farming will facilitate food provision particularly against food shortage due to seasonal drought in production; it provides additional cash for basic expenditures including food, farm implements and education. Insect farming for food also provide opportunities for improvement of local diets, employment, Health and earning income to landless dwellers and women who are involved in the gathering, farming/cultivation, processing, and sale of insects (Gahukar, 2016). Edible insects are found in all ecological zones of Nigeria in with each geopolitical zones have different potential edible insect to be farmed for profit ( table 1). (Alamu et al, 2013) reported a list of 22 most consumed insect in Nigeria distributed according to their order, 77.3% were Lepidoptera (27.3%), Coleoptera (27.3%), Orthoptera (22.7%) and 22.7% Isoptera, Hemiptera and Hymenoptera. This shows that edible insect consumed in Nigeria are spread across many orders ( Figure 2). Out of this vast numbers of insect consumed, only a few number of them are farmed in Nigeria and those farmed are not in commercial quantity.
Palm weevils, Rhynchophorus spp, are excellent low cost sources of essential nutrients. They are highly delicious and are commonly prepared roasted, they have low carbon footprint if farmed as a commercial enterprise. Palm weevils serve as a traditional meal for natives of most rural societies (especially within the southern part of the country) but are not farmed for consumption rather harvested from the wild. (Muafor et al. 2015. ) reported indigenous method of palm weevil farming, The traditional grub gathering and grub semi-farming. These systems of farming represent 30 to 75% of the household income in the study area. (Ebenebe & Okpoko, 2016) reported 8 different culturing substrates for rearing Palm weevil (coconut fiber, coconut fiber with palm wine, sawdust of mahogany, sawdust of mahogany with palm wine, palm frond petiole, palm bunch midrib, sugarcane tops (SCT), spoilt watermelon (SWM)). The result revealed that the larva thrived better in spoilt water melon and sugarcane top but failed to pupate in SWM. Mass production can be tried with spoil water melon since it will be cheaper and it will help in waste recycling. Palm weevil farming is a cost-effective enterprise in terms of supplies and labour. The larvae reaches maturity within three to four months and can be harvested for consumption -very rich in protein.
Cirina forda is a delicacy eating mostly by people from the southern part of Nigeria (Table 1), it is significantly rich in protein, fat and essential minerals. Producing it for food will be good for business since there is currently no commercial farm producing this delicious protein source. A Large number of the insect is gathered from the wild before processed to be sold in major markets in southwestern part of Nigeria. (Ande and Fasoranti, 1998) reported that Larvae of Cirina forda can be raised on leave of a growing Vittelaria paradoxa tree, all instars developed and harvested within one month. Decades after this discovery, the larvae have not been commercially produce despite the enormous potential hidden in it. Embarking on this enterprise is a potentially lucrative business. (Ebenebe and Okpoko, 2015)reported that cricket (Gymnogryllus lucens) was the most preferred insect to consume in Nigeria, but it is onlycapturedin the wild in Nigeria. Reports of its domestication has been documented globally (Miech et al,2016;Ayieko et al, 2016;Halloran et al, 2016). Ability to get requisite skills and access to training and information by potential entrepreneurs maybe some of the reasons why most of these insects are not farmed in commercial quantities in Nigeria. Grasshopper species such as Nomadacris spp., Kraussaria spp. Ornithacris spp. Zonozerus spp are collected for consumption majorly in the northern part of Nigeria (Sharah, 2013), (Ghosh,et al, 2014)mass rearing of grasshopper will be a lucrative and rewarding idea.

Entrepreneurial potentials of farming Insect for feed
Almost 60-70% increase in consumption of animal protein is predicted by 2050 to meet up with the population demands. This increase will require enormous resources, feed being the most demanding due to the scarcity of natural resources and climate change. The cost of the usual animal feed are very high and their sustainability is queried. Insect rearing could play a part in the solution. Many insects have being tried as a major ingredients in the diets of some animal species (Table: 2). The once that shows potential out of these insects areflies, especially the house fly (Musca domestica) (Diptera Muscidae)and the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) (Diptera Stratiomyiidae),which can be mass reared on-farm for domestic use, in small production units at the community or industrial level . This is so because of its prevalence in most habitats, its fast development, and the possibility of obtaining high numbers of maggots and pupae naturally on various substrates without having to rear adults for egg laying. A South Africa company named Agriprotein is producing billions of maggot, this maggot are fed organic waste manure -producing a nutrient-rich fertilizer in the process -before being harvested and dried into a natural and sustainable animal feed. Agriprotein's maggot-based animal feed is estimated to be 15% cheaper than conventional feeds and has been proven to have higher nutritional values for livestocks. It's no shocker that the company recently won more than $10 million in capital to build more fly farms in South Africa.  Vol.9, No.9, 2019 Insect farming for textile and medicines Silk worm, Bombyx mori L. (Lepidoptera: Bombicidae) is important and known for producing Mulberry silk. It can be domesticated and rear for silk production which has been exploited for over 4000 years ago. The development of cocoon is highly dependent on the feeding larvae stage whose nutritional appetites is on quality mulberry leaves (Alebiosu et al, 2014). Silk is a natural fiber with a wide market throughout the world. Traditionally, household spinners and weavers produce a variety of beautifully coloured fabrics for both domestic and ceremonial uses by blending different colors (Kanika et al, 2016). China and India are the best silk producing countries. Nigerian entrepreneurs and Africa at large can take a cue from these countries to go into silk production which has been proven to be rewarding due to the worldwide demand for it. Some insects have been identified and reported to be used traditionally as traditional medicine worldwide (Denisha and Rokozeno, 2016;Afam and Netshiheni, October 4th, 2017). Although the potency of some this traditional medicine have not been ascertained, traditional medicine is a huge industry in Africa in which many rural households livelihood depend on.

Edible insect product development
In addition to farming insects and using them raw as food or feed, opportunities abound in processing them into finished goods. Although in Africa insect eating has long been culturally accepted but in the western world the idea is still new with low acceptability and willingness to eat insect (Francesco et al. 2017;Niels and Lieberoth, 2018). Likewise in some urban areas in Africa, acceptability of edible insect is quite low, maybe due to urbanization, educational level and perception issues. Therefore, some initiatives were innovated to reduce the "disgust factor" out of this insect and make them more appealing to the general populace (Table 3). Entrepreneurs can key into this understanding and engage in edible insect product development that will help to increase the acceptability of edible insect worldwide. Packaging is one of the things entrepreneurs in edible insect industry need to take serious as it is the first thing a consumer sees before selecting the product (Nawaz, 2012

Inhibiting Factors Affecting Edible Insect Entrepreneurs in Nigeria 1.Inadequate Credit facilities
Most entrepreneurs in Nigeria are not developing due to lack of credit. Commercial banks will prefer to provide loan opportunities to bigger and established companies than smaller businesses and start ups (Ayegbe, 2016). Since edible insects enterprises are not that pronounce in the country, getting fund to finance such business may need more persuasion than regular businesses. Therefore, there is needs for government through microfinance banking to assist small businesses through loans.

Poor Education, Knowledge and Skills of people in edible insect farming
Knowledge is source of strength (Ayegba, 2016). Most entrepreneurs lack basic information in the enterprise they venture into. A good understanding of requisite skills needed for the business remain a veritable tool towards the