Factors influencing harvesting, commersialisation and consumption of edible termites in the Vhembe district of the Limpopo province in South Africa
Zitha, Ntokozo Blessing
Zitha, Ntokozo Blessing
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Abstract
Edible termites are a natural renewable resource that provides food and income generation opportunities to many rural people in Africa. Furthermore, edible termites contribute to the
socio-economic wellbeing and food security. Consequently, there is an increasing adoption in the practice of entomophagy particularly the harvesting, commercialisation and consumption of edible insects. This study identifies the factors influencing the participation in the harvesting, commercialisation and consumption of edible termites in the Vhembe District. Therefore, the study used data collected from 104 households by the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and University of Witwatersrand. The use of descriptive statistics was to profile the socio-economics characteristics of the harvesters, sellers and consumers. In addition, the adoption of logistic and the ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression was to identify the factors influencing this phenomenon and determining the level of harvesting, commercialisation and consumption of edible termites. Regarding the factors influencing the harvesting of edible termites, the results revealed that factors such as age and religion influence had a positive coefficient and statistically significant
influencing the harvesting of edible termites. Factors such as religion, education and daily intake had a negative coefficient and were statistically significant in influencing the harvesting
of edible termites. Moreover, regarding the factors influencing the level of harvesting, the results revealed that factors such as age, religion influence and consumption frequency
positively influenced the level of harvesting, while education negatively influenced the level. Concerning the factors influencing the commercialisation of edible termites, the results
revealed that factors such as local municipality, gender and consumption reason had a positive coefficient and statistically significant influencing the commercialisation of edible termites. In addition, the results revealed that factors such as local municipality, gender, education, and consumption reason positively influenced the level of commercialisation. Furthermore, on the factors influencing the consumption of edible termites, the results revealed that factors such as gender, age, termite’s knowledge had a negative coefficient and statistically significant
influencing the consumption of edible termites. Moreover, factors such as gender, age and religion influence has a negative coefficient determining the level of consumption and termites’
preference had a positive coefficient and statistically significant influencing the level of consumption. This study recommends further research and development should be conducted
on edible insects. This will give policymakers further insight on the importance of edible insects and their role towards the economy, and help provide regulatory framework particularly
towards the harvesting of edible termites. Furthermore, targeted policymakers should allow investment to happen and expand this phenomenon; hence, the estimate is that edible insects
will grow at 47% compound annual growth rate between 2019 and 2026. Moreover, this study recommends the initiating of awareness campaigns to educate society about the importance of practising entomophagy, and introducing such as a curriculum in schools will amplify this phenomenon.
Description
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Agricultural Science, Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Science at the Tshwane University of Technology
Date
2022-07
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Tshwane University of Technology
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Keywords
harvesting, commersialisation, consumption, edible termites, logistic model, Vhembe district