MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Ifymoto Processing Industries

One-line solution summary:

My solution leverages the power of insects in solving the food crisis while ensuring environmental sustainability and repairing the future

Pitch your solution.

The way we produce proteins today places an increasingly heavy strain on land and sea resources. It requires a large amount of increasingly scarce resources (water and land for soya meal, and fish catch for fishmeal). Over 30% of the world's fish stocks are overexploited.
Tons of wastes are generated in cities and communities across the globe. The world generates over 1.3 Billion tonnes of food wastes annually which end up in landfills, generating large volumes of the toxic greenhouse gas - Methane.
3.3 gigatonnes Greenhouse gases are released from food wastes disposed in landfills globally.
My solution (Insect farming) has the potential of effectively replacing fishmeal and soymeal (which are associated with depletion of Ocean’s resources, distortion of balance below the ocean and deforestation) with maggot-meal in the formulation of livestock feeds. My solution also helps in mitigating the release of Greenhouse gases from food wastes deposited in landfills

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

The way we produce proteins today is unsustainable and places an increasingly heavy strain on land and sea resources. It requires a large amount of increasingly scarce resources (water and land for soya meal, and fish catch for fishmeal). Livestock producers account for 14.5% of global Greenhouse Gas emissions.
4 out of the 9 environmental factors that support Life on Land have exceeded the "danger" threshold - Human-driven climate change, Land system change, Loss of the Integrity of the Biosphere & Nitrogen flowing into Oceans occasioned by Fertilizer usage.
Over 30% of the world's fish stocks are overexploited, distorting the natural balance of the ocean which absorbs about 30% of the Carbondioxide produced by humans.
Tons of wastes are generated in cities and communities across the globe. The world generates over 1.3 Billion tonnes of food wastes annually. Food wastes that end up in landfills generates large volumes of the toxic greenhouse gas - Methane.
3.3 gigatonnes Greenhouse gases are released from food wastes disposed in landfills globally.
By 2050, the world would have over 9.5 billion people to feed on a daily basis even as the global protein deficit is projected to hit 60 million tons by 2050

What is your solution?

My solution (Insect farming) has the potential of effectively replacing fishmeal and soymeal (which are associated with depletion of Ocean’s resources, distortion of balance below the ocean and deforestation) with maggot-meal (derived from insects), in the formulation of livestock feeds. My solution also helps in mitigating the release of Greenhouse gases from food wastes deposited in landfills
Millions of adult Black Soldier Flies (Hermetia illucens) are housed in specially designed cages using artificial lighting systems, they mate and each fly lays between 500 – 900 eggs. The eggs are Incubated and hatch into hatchlings which then transform into young larvae after a few days. The larvae are voracious feeders and are fed with tons of organic wastes like Brewery grain wastes, waste fruits and other food industry leftovers. After about 14 days after hatching, these larvae are ready to be harvested using a sifting machine. After harvesting they are then washed in boiling water and sold either in their fresh form or in their dried form (after drying them with a drying machine. 10% of these larvae are not harvested but used to replenish our army of flies to continue the production cycle again.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

My solution mainly targets farmers of monogastric animals especially Catfish, Poultry and Pigs. I have carried out a market survey to understand the needs of my target customers after which I tested the product in these market segment to further validate these needs. As I develop the solution, I am engaging them using social media platforms (WhatsApp and Facebook), phone calls and my website. The solution will address their needs by reducing their production costs by over 50% as livestock feeds account for over 70% of total cost of production.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Support small-scale producers with access to inputs, capital, and knowledge to improve yields while sustaining productivity of land and seas

Explain how the problem, your solution, and your solution’s target population relate to the Challenge and your selected dimension.

Maggot (insect) farming helps to ramp up the supply of proteins (estimated to be a deficit of 60 million tons by 2050) needed for raising livestock in a cost-effective and sustainable manner. Its sustainability advantage is such that it mitigates the depletion of our oceans of its fishes and the destruction of forest and fauna to cultivate Soybean both of which are unsustainable inputs for feeds.

It also seeks to close the loop of the food system and solve the problem of food wastage/spoilage by utilizing waste food in feeding our insects which have an incredibly efficient waste-to-protein conversion mechanism.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Asaba, Nigeria

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community

Who is the primary delegate for your solution?

CEO