Determinants of fish farmers' awareness of insect-based aquafeeds in Kenya; the case of black soldier fly larvae meal

It is evident from scientific studies that black soldier fly larvae can replace the widely used fishmeal, which is costly and unsustainable for smallholder farmers, in aquafeeds. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factors t influencing fish farmers' awareness of use of black soldier fly larvae meal as an ingredient in fish feeds. The effect of farmers' socioeconomic status and aquaculture practices on their awarenessabout black soldier fly larvae based aquafeeds was examined using a binary logit regression model. The regression analysis results revealed that fish farming experience (beta = 0.327; p = 0.001), distance to feed sources (beta = 0.009; p = 0.034), farmers' income (beta = -0.505; p = 0.008) and knowledge about the components of existing feed (beta = 2.667; p = 0.004) significantly influenced the farmers' awareness about black soldier fly larvae meal. The results suggest that communication and farmer education are key in improving the farmers' awareness about novel fish feed ingredients. Therefore, there is need for both public and private institutions to improve awareness creation through local print and electronic media to enhance fish farmers' awareness of insect-based aquafeeds.