Insect predators and the upskilling of a rural community in Letsitele

New industries require new expertise, and this gives people a chance to expand their skills. Karel van Heerden, CEO of Insectec, spoke to Lindi Botha about how the niche insect-breeding industry is creating fulfilling employment for the people of a small town in Limpopo, and changing their lives for the better.

- Lindi Botha

Insectec, near the small town of Letsitele in Limpopo, is the largest insectary in the Southern Hemisphere, and produces natural insect predators of citrus pests. Insectec has to nurture these predators with the very pests they will ultimately eliminate in the orchard. Ironically, therefore, these pests are also bred and fed. This is done with butternuts (supplied by farmers in the area), which supply both a food source and breeding environment.

Each step in the system needs to be followed diligently and meticulously to prevent cross-contamination and ensure that farmers receive the highest-quality live product that will do what is promised: reduce pest infestation in orchards. The processes involved in breeding insects require a unique set of skills, but as the industry is still in its infancy both locally and internationally, there are no tertiary institutions that provide training to breed the insects in the way that Insectec does: intensively and in large quantities.

Hiring the right staff for these tasks requires finding people who are willing to learn. In turn, people are given opportunities for upliftment through gaining niche skills. Such expertise is set to be in high demand as farmers increasingly look to biological methods of pest control.

According to Karel van Heerden, CEO of Insectec, the company introduces constant innovation to improve production methods.

“Everything Insectec has achieved so far has been based on research and trials. Minimum input with maximum output is always more cost-effective, and optimal training is imperative to achieving this.”

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