Changing Perspectives: Growing Resilience with Alternative Proteins

Our next Changing Perspectives entry comes from Omolade Awodola-Peters, an animal scientist who is currently studying at the University of Reading. Her work focuses on alternative edible proteins and climate-smart agriculture in East Africa.

Tell us about your area of study at the University.

OMOLADE: So at the University I am currently studying Applied International Development, and I am on the pathway of policy planning and development. Coming from my animal science background I feel I needed to know more about this.

I decided to look at issues in livestock production in my country, and one of them is poverty and inequality. Another thing is agricultural planning and project management, and to learn more about these I came to Reading. I want to understand these topics in depth to help develop food systems and livestock planning in Nigeria.

Where does your interest in livestock production come from?

OMOLADE: I was born into a family of farmers. My grandma kept chickens at a fairly large scale, and grew corn. My dad had chickens and turkeys too. I remember that when I was in secondary school, my dad would sometimes sell off turkeys for school fees. It was a quick source of revenue, you know?

Growing up, everyone wanted me to be a doctor! I remember that my uncle said my grandma didn’t have to go to school to learn how to keep chickens. So why are you wasting your time going to school, studying how to keep animals?

I told him that maybe there are better ways, and it would be good to bring some more advanced knowledge into the way grandma does it. I want to contribute that knowledge to the traditional methods.

Most of the things they do are based on indigenous knowledge, like knowing which plants can treat animals, and that’s been handed down to them. I want to combine this indigenous knowledge with a scientific aspect.

Tell us about your work on the ‘African Livestock Observatory’.

OMOLADE: We’re still in the very early stages, which consists of consultations and data gathering before we submit a funding application. The goals of the project are:

1. To network widely with existing actors and stakeholders in the African livestock arena
2. To secure funding for an annual Visiting Fellow (i.e. one African-based livestock researcher/academic per year to come over to UoR/SAPD for two months or so to write a paper, interact with colleagues and students, give a seminar or two, network more widely, and attend an appropriate conference in the UK or on the continent).
3. To have a state-of-the art working paper series on “Current controversies in African Livestock Development” to which visiting fellows will be encouraged to contribute. There will be an expectation that shorter versions of such working papers will be submitted for publication to a suitable journal.

4. To organise and lead panels of speakers at relevant conferences (Dev Studies Assoc. conference, etc), as well as hosting workshops, seminar series and conferences at the UoR over the course of time.

What are the benefits and potential of insect farming?

OMOLADE: It’s something that’s been going on for ages, with wild harvesting of insects and consuming them as snacks or as part of a meal.

We talk so much about climate change and greenhouse gases, and livestock is a major culprit. But livestock is very important – it can help lift people out of poverty, and protein is essential for nutrition.

The new climate-smart option for protein is insect farming. There are many funded projects on state farming for food and feed, and I’m looking at how these projects, and the training they provide, can empower women, especially in the African region.

Insect farming is circular – it utilises organic waste. Obviously, it produces insects for food and feed, and also frass (insect manure) which is nutritious for plants and enriches soil health. Studies have analysed the chemical composition of these edible insects, in comparison to fish and soya beans, and found that the protein content is very high.

It’s already made a real noticeable difference in countries like Uganda and Kenya, where people in refugee camps and malnourished children are becoming healthier on an insect diet. In Europe, there’s also a new International Platform for Insects as Food and Feed, which aims to have 3,000,000 tons of insects produced by 2030, and this provides hope for alternative protein.

What can English farming learn from African practice?

OMOLADE: What comes to mind is what happened during COVID. I was back home in Nigeria, and I kept a few chickens, some fish, and I grew tomatoes in pots. I wouldn’t say I was self-sufficient but I was not worried about food. My neighbour kept a few goats, she had some plants, so we could share.

One thing we see with African practice is that we see a lot of subsistence farming, a lot of families having backyard plants, and a few animals. In terms of shocks, this helps them build resilience.

In Reading I’ve been asking around – where are the farms? Thinking about urban culture, maybe that’s something English practice can pick up on. When we talk about hydroponics and vertical farming, many people have interest back home. So perhaps it’s something that can be adopted more widely in England as well.

How would you describe the future of food?

OMOLADE: I’m feeling optimistic about regenerative farming, and about certain traditional methods coming back. I’m also hopeful about transformative resilience, for instance through culinary innovations, combining traditional and modern techniques, and climate-smart agriculture.

We’re growing in new ways – I’ve grown food on my windowsill. Anybody, anywhere, can do something.

Insect farming is also the future of food. It requires little land, little water, little input and you get something amazing. I also hope the future is more organic than what we have now; I think people are becoming more aware of what they’re putting in their bodies.

What’s your favourite thing about the work you do?

OMOLADE: I love what I do. I think I was born to do it. I like seeing things grow, even though sometimes I’m not sure how I feel about eating them!

Over the last year I’ve also enjoyed looking at policy documents, as it’s encouraged me to think about what people are doing and also why they are doing it. It’s been exciting and challenging because I have to question everything and also see opportunities. There’s always room for a new perspective.

Tell us about the object you’ve chosen, and why you chose it.

OMOLADE: When I saw this lamp in the catalogue, I was intrigued because growing up on our farm, we didn’t have electricity. We used a kerosene lamp.

Every day we would bring it home and hang it on the wall. This would attract insects, especially in the evening. My mum would say “let’s gather these insects, and pan toast them”. When I was reading or doing an assignment with that little light, I would also be snacking on the insects.

We did that for many years – it’s not something people tend to do in the UK, but for us it was normal! I’ve spoken to other people who grew up in Africa and had the same experience. We even had a special broom, which we saw as a food making tool. Mum would use it to swat the insects, and we would all gather them up for her. So when I saw this lamp, it brought back all those memories.