IPB opens first cricket workshop

BOGOR: To support the development of natural resources in the country, the Bogor Agricultural Institute will hold the country's first research workshop on crickets.

"We are supporting the development of crickets as a commodity by working together with more than 50,000 cricket breeders through their association," said the director of the IPB's Human Resources Center, Illah Sailah, on Tuesday.

The IPB signed a memorandum of understanding with the breeders' association last week.

Illah said the IPB would help the farmers with the development of human resources and technology, while the association would help enlarge the market for the insects.

He said that crickets, which are common in Indonesia, had long been used as ingredients in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries, as well as in traditional medicine. --Antara