Breeding crickets a good business
Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Crickets are usually considered ordinary insects without any economic value. They are usually found in the garden, or even inside the house. Village children sometimes play with male crickets by pitting them against one another.
However, in the eyes of cricket farmers grouped in the Indonesian Cricket Farmers Association (Astrik), the cricket has a very high economic value worth billions of rupiah due to its high protein content that reaches 57.32 percent, and is much sought after by the food as well as animal feed industries.
Based on an Astrik research conducted by a team led by Prayitno at Jenderal Soedirman University's school of husbandry in Purwokerto, Central Java, the cricket also contains amino acids and functions as a natural antioxidant in the human body.
"The high protein content makes the cricket a commodity much sought after by the animal feed industry as well as the cosmetics and traditional medicine industries," said Astrik's marketing and purchasing manager, Ika Nurwidya.
Citing an example, Ika added that an animal feed producer in East Java alone needed 50 tons of dried crickets every fortnight, not to mention other animal feed and herbal medicine factories on Java island, which could reach 200 tons.
"But we can only produce 500 kg to 1,000 kg in two weeks," said Ika.
Astrik's research and development manager Bagus Sigit Bayu said that the market was still wide open for suppliers, and added that only top quality crickets with a high protein content would be accepted.
To maintain quality, Astrik has developed an integrated breeding method in a partnership program with farmers in 44 regencies which now number around 1,000 farmers.
A working package which includes cricket eggs, insect feed and breeding boxes are supplied by Astrik. Farmers have to pay Rp 1.4 million for 10 boxes, each costing Rp 10,000, four ounces of eggs at Rp 60,000 per ounce, 120 kg of feed at Rp 7,500 per kg and an oven costing Rp 50,000.
"Each package will be able to produce 80 kilograms of crickets in 35 days. Astrik will buy them at Rp 30,000 per kg. So, a farmer can reap a profit of Rp 1 million in a month," said Bayu.
He added that the association would not accept crickets bred outside its membership because their quality could not be assured.
"We tried buying crickets from common farmers once. The crickets they bred had a very high water content. Only 1 kg of dried crickets was derived after roasting four kg of them, whereas only 2.5 kg of live crickets bred through the program could produce one kg of dried crickets. Besides that, due to inferior feeding techniques, their protein content was found to be lower too," said Bayu, who comes from Gunung Kidul.
Dried crickets can last for six months after being vacuum packed. Before being packed, live crickets are immersed in hot water at 70 degrees centigrade.
They are then roasted in an oven for seven to 12 hours. A one- kg pack of dried crickets can be sold at Rp 110,000.
"These crickets are also delicious, crispy when fried and eaten immediately," said Bayu, while offering a plate of fried crickets.
A cricket farmer, Bambang Muntholip, 45, acknowledged that cricket breeding was very simple and could be done as a pastime. Besides the easy maintenance, it does not consume space and is environmentally friendly.
"I only bred them for fun at the time. But, 30 days later, I reaped a profit of Rp 700,000," said the former chicken breeder.