Black Soldier Fly (BSF) Farming in Uganda: A Comprehensive Guide

Nov 06, 2025 0

Waste-based BSF insect farming is a process that involves biowaste conversion by insect larvae, using the example of the Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia illucens. Grown larvae are harvested for use as animal feed, while the residue and insect manure (frass) serve as an ideal soil amendment and fertilizer. Native to many regions of Africa, the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) is a non-pest insect known for its remarkable waste-conversion abilities.

With its voracious appetite for organic waste, rapid growth rate, and nutrient-rich larvae (maggots), this insect offers a multi-faceted solution to the twin challenge of biowaste management and climate change. A new report from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition’s Technology and Economic Assessment Panel (TEAP) offers just that vision. Transforming Organic Waste with Black Soldier Flies is more than a technical document -- it’s a practical guide for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and innovators seeking to turn a pressing environmental challenge into a regenerative opportunity. It lays out a roadmap for how black soldier fly (BSF) technology can contribute to cleaner air, greener agriculture, and inclusive economic development.

This article delves into the burgeoning field of BSF farming in Uganda, exploring its potential, challenges, and impact on local communities and the environment.

BLACK SOLDIER FLY ROUTINE PRACTICES- WASTE INTO ANIMAL FEED.

The Black Soldier Fly Life Cycle and Its Benefits

The flies lay eggs in decaying matter where the larvae, the true stars of the show, develop. As they feed, the larvae break down a wide range of organic materials, from food scraps to animal manure, agricultural residues, and even sewage sludge. These larvae convert the waste materials into two highly valuable resources for the agriculture sector: protein-rich larvae biomass and nutrient-rich natural fertilizer or “frass”.

The nutrient-dense biomass can be harvested and used as livestock or fish feed, or can be converted into biofuels. The larvae themselves are a protein-rich food source for animals, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional livestock feed. The second product, the nutrient-rich frass, can be used as a potent fertilizer, thereby replacing synthetic fertilizers that contribute to climate change through high energy consumption at manufacture, nitrogen oxide emissions during production and use, and soil health degradation and water pollution after use.

Uganda: A Fertile Ground for BSF Farming

Uganda presents a promising environment for BSF farming due to its abundance of organic waste and the need for sustainable agricultural practices. This project fills research gaps to enable and foster adoption of this innovation by transdisciplinary research following the systemic approach of the Livelihood Platforms Approach, as well as the concept of technology adoption and innovation platforms.

The Solid Waste Group at the Department of Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development of Eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, has joined forces with partners in Uganda and Malawi to receive close to 1’000’000 CHF funding for three years. The project team consists of research partners Dr. Frank Mnthambala at Mzuzu University in Malawi and Dr. Allan John Komakech Makerere University in Uganda. The development partners are Soil Food and Healthy Communities in Malawi and Bioconversion in Uganda.

This community is requesting funds to refurbish a building and purchase equipment to start a Black Soldier Fly (BSF) business and create a training center for area farmers and youth. By starting a successful BSF farm, the community leaders intend to motivate farmers to start private BSF operations and use their farm as a teaching tool.

A centrally located building and piece of land has been donated to the community for this BSF project. The donated building needs to be weatherproofed, pest-proofed, and expanded to provide a safe environment for group workshops. The donated land will provide space for a hands-on learning experience.

Over 80% of the population in the district are smallholder farmers struggling with soil degradation, home health problems, and economic poverty. A small-scale BSF operation can provide a family with affordable high-protein livestock feed and organic soil amendment. Within 12 months a BSF operation can harvest an excess of products than what is needed on-site, then they can be sold providing additional income to the family.

Ugavoil: A Success Story in BSF Farming

Augustine Babughirana founded Ugavoil in 2018 as a private agribusiness in Kasese district, Uganda, to “decouple economic activity from the consumption of finite resources”. Ugavoil is committed to using byproducts as a raw material for other processes and products, to promote sustainability of livelihoods and the environment. The company farms black soldier flies to recycle organic waste into fertilizer and livestock feed, to reduce landfill waste and greenhouse gas emissions.

Ugavoil sources its organic waste from markets and households in the county, as well as from an avocado processing factory. It collects 40 metric tons of waste (including plastic, paper, excavated soil, and textile and food waste) per day from the municipal authority. A quarter of this (ten tons) is organic waste that can be sorted to feed the black soldier flies. The municipal council sensitizes market vendors on waste management; interested farmers receive training on how to sort, process, and convert waste to agricultural products. The avocado processing factory provides four tons of avocado pulp waste every day. Farmers interested in using the resulting agricultural products are also trained on how to use and apply the fertilizer and livestock feed for optimal yield.

Ugavoil employees earn the equivalent of between US$ 100-250 per month, excluding welfare costs such as breakfast, lunch and statutory contributions. There are ten permanent and four temporary employees.

The Impacts of Ugavoil's BSF Farming

While the impacts are not actively tracked, the business has shown many benefits:

It has reduced emissions from the burning of market and household wastes.
Incidences of floods and pollution of water bodies.
It has reduced methane emissions from decomposing market and household wastes. The contribution of black soldier fly farming in reducing methane emissions is recognized globally.
It contributes to controlling vectors such as rats, mosquitoes, and flies that transmit diseases such as malaria, cholera, typhoid, and dysentery, and the adverse health impacts of strong odors.
It creates jobs and has gender impacts by proactively targeting women for training and economic empowerment in the business.

Ugavoil works mostly with women and sees black soldier fly production as an opportunity to empower women across the agricultural value chain, from waste management to larvae harvesting, processing, and distribution. They have a key partnership with the East African consultancy Intellecap, to further the women’s economic empowerment potential of the business.

Read also: Benefits of Dairy Farming in Kenya

Addressing Challenges in BSF Farming

The practitioners in Ugavoil have a range of experiences in trying to engage communities to embrace black soldier fly farming as a regenerative process to recycle waste and use its products:

Farmers are initially cautious about using maggots as farm inputs, until they see demonstrated success. Such positive results are instrumental in engaging others.
Farmers adopt and continue to use the products due to two key factors: better yield of crops and livestock, and lower production costs than traditional alternatives.

Nevertheless, at present, challenges of space and resources inhibit implementation and scaling up for farmers who are being trained to convert waste into commercial products. Black soldier fly farmers do not typically have access to the land and funds needed for waste processing. Enabling policies and financial support from governments and business incubators could be helpful in getting more of these initiatives off the ground.

BSF System Templates: A Guide to Implementation

One of the key contributions of the report is the introduction of six BSF system templates. These archetypes represent the diversity of real-world BSF operations, helping stakeholders match their context and goals with appropriate technologies. The templates include:

Micro-scale home systems for household waste and backyard poultry.
The Simplified BSF Approach (SIMBA) suited to rural entrepreneurs and farmer cooperatives.
Centralized tropical facilities, like those in Tanzania and Uganda, that serve regional waste processing and protein production.
Container-based or decentralized systems, enabling flexible, mobile operations close to waste sources.
Medium to large-scale urban facilities designed for standardized outputs and economies of scale.
Large-scale industrial pioneers, which deploy advanced automation and climate control for international feed markets.

Each system is further broken down into system modules -- functional units such as waste collection, pretreatment, feeding, bioconversion, harvesting, and processing. These modules offer a toolbox of options, from low-tech wheelbarrows to automated conveyor belts, allowing users to configure solutions that are both context-specific and scalable.

The report’s modular approach makes it easy to see where costs can be optimized, where partnerships may be needed, and where innovation can unlock new value. It is especially useful for funders, implementers, and local authorities who need to assess trade-offs between capital investment, labour availability, energy demand, and regulatory compliance.

Real-World Challenges and Solutions

While the promise of BSF is compelling, the report does not overlook the real-world challenges of implementation. It candidly explores the hurdles faced by early adopters: inconsistent feedstock supply, costly infrastructure, complex reproduction cycles, and regulatory uncertainty. Many of the same challenges that face conventional animal farming apply here -- only with fewer decades of experience and precedent to fall back on.

One of the biggest risks is mismatched scaling. Rushing to build large, expensive facilities without fully understanding the operational dynamics can lead to inefficiencies, high overheads, and disappointing returns. The report recommends incremental scaling and modular expansion, allowing operators to learn, adapt, and refine their processes over time.

It also emphasizes the need for feedstock partnerships -- with food processors, breweries, markets, or municipalities -- to ensure a steady supply of organic waste. Decentralized models can reduce transport costs and improve resilience. For smallholders, the focus is on simplifying daily operations and integrating BSF farming into routine agricultural practices -- much like beekeeping.

On the regulatory side, the report advocates for clear, enabling frameworks that support safe feedstock use, product quality standards, and market access. Too often, the lack of specific insect farming regulations leaves operators in a legal grey zone. Strong engagement between governments, industry associations, and civil society is needed to unlock the full potential of the sector.

Transforming Organic Waste with Black Soldier Flies is aimed at a wide audience: national and local governments drafting waste and climate policies; investors looking for scalable green technologies; entrepreneurs searching for climate-smart business ideas; NGOs and development agencies designing circular economy programs; and researchers exploring sustainable protein sources.

By combining technical depth with system-level thinking, the report offers a practical, grounded framework for making decisions. Whether the goal is to reduce municipal waste, produce local animal feed, or generate carbon credits, the guide can help identify the right pathway -- and the right partners -- to get there.

At its core, this is not just a report about insects. It is a call to see waste differently -- to recognize the latent value in what we discard, and to build systems that restore rather than deplete. The black soldier fly offers us an unlikely ally in that mission.

BSF life cycle

PEER Project: Supporting BSF Farmers in Uganda

The black soldier fly larva (BSFL) is recognized as one of the most environmentally friendly sources of insect protein for animal production. Researchers have demonstrated that BSFL is highly nutritious, making it a potential replacement for more expensive animal-protein feed ingredients. In Uganda, BSFL farming is growing rapidly despite a myriad of challenges.

The Centre for Insect Research and Development (CIRD) has piloted small-scale commercial BSFL farming under the leadership of the principal investigator on this project, Dr. Amulen. The major milestones achieved by CIRD includes setting up a small-scale BSFL unit producing one ton of BSFL weekly, supporting establishment of 100 BSF farming business, establishing market channels for both BSF equipment and breeding seeds such as eggs and pupae, and creating demand for dry BSFL among poultry and pig farmers.

However, a number of scientific questions were asked by the Center’s farmer clients. These included questions about the nutritional content of the BSFL produced, the mixing ratio for BSFL with other feed ingredients, the growth rate or performance of chickens fed on BSFL-based poultry feed, and the safety and quality of BSFL produced for chicken and consumers. The farmers also struggled with the lack of a designated market or supply system for BSFL farming equipment or inputs.

This PEER project sought to address these technical questions while supporting more than 100 youths and women BSFL farmers to profitably earn money from BSFL as a COVID-19 resilience strategy in Uganda.

Key Activities and Outcomes

The PEER project’s launch event was attended by high-level stakeholders, including the Commissioner of Entomology and his staff at the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF). The event attracted media attention, including an article in the Monitor newspaper and a local radio show interview.

The researchers subsequently undertook an assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on livestock feed protein sources and mapped actors in the BSF value chain in peri-urban Kampala. They conducted two surveys with 256 respondents on the value chain. The team also began work on assessing the quality and safety of BSF larvae reared with an eye on providing practical measures for safe post-harvest handling practices. They piloted a cost-effective production model of BS by reviewing different production and marketing models and conducting a Cost-Benefit Analysis by incorporating agricultural economist partners from Gulu University Uganda.

The PEER team conducted a range of trainings, after which they began offering continuous support to 100 women and youth in commercial black soldier fly rearing, assisted by the entire CIRD community of practice and other technical support services. The team also provided safety kits and information about how to work with organic waste to 30 women organic waste collectors and conducted business coaching clinics for 40 BSF farmers.

The project also supported training four students and lab laboratory technical staff at Makerere University on the use of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) and funded one Master’s student involved in the field study. The CIRD was expanded as a one-stop knowledge center, including improving their commercial BSFL farming training manual to include personnel and environmental safety measures. The Center has launched monthly technical support meetings and conducted online and one-on-one coaching services.

The project PI met with the Parliament Committee of Agriculture to submit views on integration of black soldier fly in the new animal feeds bill, and used project data to justify why the BSF value chain should be included in a new World Bank project about Ugandan agriculture.

Two manuscripts on their findings are forthcoming, and in the meantime the team presented their work in a variety of conferences and meetings, including the Excellence in Insect Science conference, as well as to representatives of the governments of Denmark and Saudi Arabia.

BSF Farming

Project Outcomes and Impacts

The project outcomes include increased awareness among farmers and entrepreneurs about waste suitability for insect farming, leading to their active engagement in setting up BSF facilities and adapting business models.

The desired project impacts are: proven feasibility of insect farming by pilot farmers and entrepreneurs, pilot facilities as demonstration sites to foster support, and mainstreaming a favorable environment for implementing BSF insect farming.

BSF Farming: Key Considerations

Here are some key factors to consider when starting a BSF farming project:

Waste Substrates: Evaluate the suitability of different waste substrates for insect farming.
Market Assessment: Assess the market for insect products, focusing on market entry and financial feasibility.
Community and Institutions: Understand how community and institutions affect insect farming, including institutional, legislative, and economic conditions.

By addressing these considerations, BSF farming can be a sustainable and profitable venture in Uganda.

Conclusion

BSF farming holds immense potential for Uganda, offering solutions for waste management, sustainable agriculture, and economic empowerment. By embracing this innovative approach, communities can transform organic waste into valuable resources, fostering a circular economy and improving livelihoods.