A swarm of locusts on the horizon usually spells doom to most societies, but the VhaVenda people in South Africa’s Limpopo Province welcome this natural phenomenon. In fact, it is seen as a blessing from the ancestors.
According to Dr Rob Toms, an entomologist at the Transvaal Museum, red locusts are a sought after delicacy in this region. The fact that they are not an annual occurrence, like the mopane worm, makes them even more valuable.
Toms says locusts may swarm across the northern reaches of Limpopo Provihonce only once in every 10 years. This year, they will certainly contribute to the R6-million the insect trade nets annually in the former Bantustan.
Berry Ramuneyiwa, owner of Vevisa Lodge in Thohoyandou, agrees that the appearance of the locusts this year is indeed a treat. Vevisa is an upmarket lodge and restaurant which caters to wealthy tourists and business travellers.
He says the value of the Venda insect trade may be even higher than the estimated R6-million per annum. Citing mopane worms (mashonzha or masonja, as they are called locally) as the main edible insect commodity, he notes that an 80kg maize bag of dried mopane worms sells for between R800 and R1 000 and that thousands of bags are sold to traders from all over South Africa every year.
In addition to locusts, other insects in high demand are edible stinkbugs (Encosternum delegorguei, called thongolifha by the VhaVenda) and termites. In both Limpopo and Mpumalanga, the stinkbugs are harvested by hand and the bugs’ defensive secretions leave a characteristic orange stain on the skin.
Ramuneyiwa explains that these insects form part of the staple diet of many black South Africans but are now often eaten more as a cultural treat than out of necessity. Toms confirms this and notes that edible insects have become a more expensive source of protein than beef, lamb or chicken.
Most edible insects are harvested during spring and summer. In Venda the harvesters are typically women. In times of particular abundance, as with this year’s locusts, children also join in.
These entomological delicacies are expertly prepared and dried for winter months when only a few edible insects such as the stinkbug are available for harvesting. While many African nations use the stinkbug to flavour stews, the VhaVenda eat them for their own sake. Toms notes that the demand for stinkbugs in South Africa often exceeds the supply.
Stinkbugs are harvested at dawn while it is cold and they are almost immobile. As the day warms up, the bugs are more vigilant and fly away when disturbed.
Harvesting and preparing insects is a full-time occupation for many women in Venda. Toms says the harvesters migrate to wherever insects manifest themselves. During harvesting seasons, the women are often housed by local Venda chiefs in their Domba huts — traditional classrooms for young maidens undergoing initiation training.
For his restaurant, Ramuneyiwa buys directly from the harvesters, but many other vendors buy insects in bulk to supply similar restaurants and stores in distant centres, or package small quantities for sale as snacks at open markets and taxi ranks all over the country.
City-dwelling insect lovers are forced to buy their insect treats at prices rivalling those of game biltong, when calculated in rands per kilogram.
During the locust invasion this past June, a group of women in the Sagole Spa area worked throughout the night to cure and dry locusts. Following the locust harvest, they may travel as far as Modjadji village near Duiwelskloof to harvest stinkbugs.
Toms believes stinkbugs were once abundant around the Venda capital of Thohoyandou, but are now predominantly harvested in the vicinity of Modjadji village. He attributes this to unsustainable harvesting together with environmental degradation and changing land use, such as the development of tea estates, which eradicate many indigenous plants.
Around Modjadji village, the stinkbug’s favoured food plant is the evergreen shrub Dodonaea angustifolia, or sand olive.
In a study conducted by Toms and a team of entomology students, they found that, alarmingly, Dodonaea was regarded by local nature conservation staff as an invasive plant, even though it is indigenous. Toms fears that artificial control of Dodonaea will almost certainly damage the edible stinkbug harvest.
He is also concerned about the unsustainable harvesting of caterpillar species such as mopane worms and notes that education is needed if these important food sources are to be preserved. Droughts regularly devastate the region and, in certain areas, over-exploitation has led to local extinctions.
‘During our research, we discovered there is a great need for better education. Last year we found that there was a need for a poster on the life cycle of the mopane worm to bring indigenous knowledge into classrooms and a poster has been produced.”
Harvesters collect the protein-rich larvae by the sackful from mopane trees, remove the intestines and either roast them or squash them flat and leave them to dry. In this form, they can be stored for months.
The VhaVenda believe that, when caterpillars burrow into the soil beneath the trees, they do so to die and thus see no point in sparing any. But, as Toms explains, the mopane worm burrows into the ground to pupate.
The local farming community also needs to be educated about the edible insect industry. Although some game farmers believe mopane worms pose a threat and compete with browsers such as the endangered black rhino, others are cashing in on this lucrative industry by charging harvesters huge fees to harvest on their land.
As Toms explains, the worms are seasonal so, even if some defoliation takes place, mopani worms are never present for very long and regrowth of leaves takes place as soon as they are harvested or pupate. This natural process actually encourages the growth of new leaves, which is of benefit to browsing animals.
He believes that farmers who allow harvesting should permit the removal of a controlled number of worms for an appropriate period to ensure both the survival of the species and a regular income for the harvesters.
Toms points out that another way of using mopane worms as a resource would be the development a silkworm-type industry, in which domesticated mopane worms are raised on leaves harvested from domesticated mopane trees. This would make the industry less unpredictable, because it is strongly affected by environmental conditions such as drought. The start-up costs of such ventures could prove to be an obstacle, however.
The number of African restaurants serving traditional foods that are springing up in South Africa’s affluent suburbs could well add a new dimension to this already huge industry and commercial worm-farming may become a lucrative form of agriculture.
Even the Western world is overcoming its aversion to eating creepy-crawlies and realising that insects are a good source of protein, although Westerners seem to prefer their bugs dipped in chocolate and not cooked in traditional ways, such as boiled in a tomato-and-onion sauce or fried in fat.
London chef Todd Dalton is reported to be earning good money from chocolate-coated bugs. He packages baked, chocolate-coated ants, crickets and scorpions and sells them to upmarket London stores.
For years it has been believed that edible insects may hold the key to feeding the hungry masses of the third world. Perhaps the third world should be marketing their unique gogga treats as delicacies for the first world!
The lifecycle of Mopane worms
The mopane worm is the larval stage of an emperor moth, Imbrassia belina, which feeds almost exclusively on the leaves of mopane trees covering vast tracts in Limpopo Province. The adult moth is a magnificent sight, with a wingspan of up to 13,5cm, often frightening to people as it flaps about in a batlike manner.
Hatching in spring, the moths have a lifespan of mere days and but one purpose in life — to find a mate. Males have large, feathery antennae with which to detect and track the source of female pheromones over long distances.
Once mated, the females lay batches of about 150 eggs on mopane trees. Within a few weeks, the young larvae emerge and begin to feed on leaves. When mature, they are as thick as a man’s finger and about seven centimetres long. Mature worms then burrow into the ground around each tree to pupate over the winter months, until spring returns and the moths emerge once again.
How to cook insects
Fried locusts
First remove the wings and hindlegs, then boil in a little water until soft. Add salt, if desired, and fry in shallow fat until brown. Serve with samp.
Roasted locusts
Soak wooden skewers in water (to prevent them burning), then skewer about a dozen locusts through the centre of the abdomen. The head, wings and legs may be removed before or after roasting. Roast over hot embers, turning frequently, until browned. Roasted locusts may also be ground finely and added to flour mixtures for baking bread or cake.
Mopane worms in sauce
Soak dried mopane worms in water until soft. Sauté chopped onions and minced garlic in butter, add worms, sliced tomato, chopped fresh chilli or chilli sauce, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer until worms are tender. Serve with putu pap.
Dried mopane worms may also be eaten like biltong.
Stinkbugs
First, their pungent smell must be removed either by swilling the bugs in a bucket of warm water, which makes the insects release their defensive secretion, or — more laboriously — by breaking off their heads and squeezing out the glands. The bugs may be boiled, then dried and eaten as snacks, or fried with salt and eaten with putu pap.
Signposts:
Read more about research being done on:
Mopane worms — visit www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/june/mopane.htm
Edible stink-bugs — visit
october/stinkbug.htm “>www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2003/october/stinkbug.htm
Posters:
To order posters, schools may contact Dr Rob Toms at [email protected]