Willingness of West African Consumers to Buy Food Produced Using Black Soldier Fly Larvae and Frass
Ousmane Traore,
Paul Alhassan Zaato,
Jessica Kukua Baidoo,
Shiferaw Feleke,
Victor Manyong,
Tahirou Abdoulaye,
Rousseau Djouaka,
Pepijn Schreinemachers,
Malick Niango Ba
Affiliations
Ousmane Traore
World Vegetable Center, West and Central Africa—Dry Region, CIFOR-CNSRT, Ouagadougu 06 BP 9478, Burkina Faso
Paul Alhassan Zaato
World Vegetable Center, West and Central Africa—Coastal and Humid Region, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Campus (CSIR), Kwadaso-Agric College, Kumasi P.O. Box 3785, Ghana
Jessica Kukua Baidoo
World Vegetable Center, West and Central Africa—Coastal and Humid Region, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Campus (CSIR), Kwadaso-Agric College, Kumasi P.O. Box 3785, Ghana
Shiferaw Feleke
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dar es Salaam 34441, Tanzania
Victor Manyong
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Dar es Salaam 34441, Tanzania
Tahirou Abdoulaye
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Bamako 91094, Mali
Rousseau Djouaka
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA-Benin), Cotonou 08-01000, Benin
Pepijn Schreinemachers
World Vegetable Center, East and Southeast Asia, P.O. Box 1010, Bangkok 10903, Thailand
Malick Niango Ba
World Vegetable Center, West and Central Africa (WCA)—Coastal and Humid Regions, IITA-Benin Campus, Cotonou 08 BP 0932, Benin
The use of black soldier fly (BSF) larvae and frass in agriculture can make an important contribution to food and nutrition security. However, it is important to understand whether consumers are willing to consume food products resulting from the use of BSF larvae as animal feed or BSF frass as fertilizer. This study employed the stated preference approach as food products produced using BSF larvae and frass are not currently available on the market. Questionnaires were administered to a total of 4412 consumers in Ghana (1360), Mali (1603), and Niger (1449). The results show that the vast majority of respondents are willing to consume vegetables (88%) produced using BSF frass and meat (87%) produced using animal feed made of BSF larvae. A smaller percentage of respondents are even willing to pay USD 1.32 and USD 1.7 more if the base price of BSF-based products were USD 5 per kg. Age, gender, education, and country positively influenced the respondents’ willingness to consume food produced using BSF products. In contrast, neighborhood status, income, and household size are inversely related to the respondents’ willingness to pay for and consume these products. Our findings are, therefore, important to scaling up BSF technologies in the region.
