Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorOrinda, Mary Akinyi
dc.date.accessioned2020-11-02T09:58:05Z
dc.date.available2020-11-02T09:58:05Z
dc.date.issued2018-10
dc.identifier.urihttp://ir.jooust.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/8852
dc.description.abstractThe Lake Victoria Region has been synonymous with persistent cycle of food insecurity and low income among farmers. This has been mainly attributed to small scale subsistence farming and unsustainable farming methods. To address the problem of food insecurity, low income and unsustainable agriculture, it is necessary that innovative farming methods be sought. Consequently, this study has focused on cricket rearing due to their unique potential to address the three concerns. The aim of the study was to generate knowledge on edible cricket rearing systems for medium and large-scale producers in the Lake Victoria Region. The specific objectives were: to determine the growth performance of crickets fed on different agricultural by-products; to evaluate the performance of crickets under different housing systems for medium production and to determine the technical efficiency of cricket production. Two -way ANOVA was used to analyze the first two objectives while objective three was analyzed through Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA). The study investigated growth performance of the crickets under two housing systems: Tunnel house and Prefabricated house. The feed used in the study were: Grower’s mash (GM) which was used as a control, Rice bran+ Brewers’ spent yeast (RBSY), Rice bran+ bloodmeal (RBBM) and Rice bran +Brewer’s spent grain (RBSG). In the third objective, the study further investigated technical efficiency of cricket rearing at the JOOUST insect farm. Housing type did not affect overall growth rate of the two-cricket species significantly (P>0.05) but was statistically different between the two-cricket species (P< 0.000). G. bimaculatus had a higher growth rate than A. domesticus. There was also statistically significant difference in growth rate amongst the crickets fed on the four feed types (P<0.000). Maximum likelihood estimates revealed that labour (P<0.000) and feed (P<0.000) had positive significant influence while cotton wool had significant negative (P<0.005) effect on cricket output. Change of species from G. bimaculatus to A. domesticus increased inefficiency while increase in scale of production and experience reduced inefficiency. The sum of elasticities revealed decreasing returns to scale. The results of this study implied that the genetically superior cricket species should be reared in either of the houses and new production technologies should be developed if expansion in production is to be realized. Proper training and scaling up of production would further help in increasing productivity. The new technologies should cover feeding rates, alternative input that is cheaper, and can serve the same purpose as cotton wool and labour saving techniques.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherJOOSTen_US
dc.titleEffects of Housing and Feed on Growth and Technical Efficiency of Production of Acheta domesticus (L) AND Gryllus bimaculatus for Sustainable Commercial Crickets Production in The Lake Victoria Region, Kenyaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US


Files in this item

Thumbnail

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record