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Accompanied by loud chirping from his one tonne of crickets at
the farm, Adyl Gaparov said his idea was inspired by online
articles about breeding crickets.
"Our main business is producing cricket flour with high protein
content," Gaparov said. "Our flour contains no less than 70% of
protein and many micro and macro elements."
Gaparov has about one tonne (2,200 pounds) of live crickets at
his farm, but he says serious business such as shipments to
China starts with at least five-tonne cargoes. He is offering
flour for sale at 7,000 soms ($82) per kilogram.
"We are in talks with several companies that are looking to
procure large quantities of powder - which we cannot produce at
the moment - to make sports protein bars, for example, for
athletes and for people trying to lose weight," he says.
Gaparov says that to thrive, crickets need above all a stable
temperature above 30 degrees and minimal humidity.
"In this regard, Kyrgyzstan is ideally suited for cricket
farming. We can open such farms literally in every province and
export the produce," he says. "China consumes 30,000 tonnes of
insects a year, but only produces 20,000 tonnes."
Despite the abundance of guides and manuals online, Gaparov says
he had to learn through trial and error.
"Over half a year, there were three cases where we lost a whole
generation overnight," he says.
While he grows his swarm and builds up cricket flour stocks,
Gaparov also sells deep-fried insects as a beer snack.
"We add some spices and flavourings," he says.
(Reporting by Marlis Myrzakul uulu; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov;
Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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