Abstract
Black soldier fly ( Hermetia illucens , BSF) farming is becoming popular in Bangladesh for alternate protein sources in poultry and aqua feed. However, this farming faces challenges in sustainable production and marketing. A survey was conducted with 16 BSF entrepreneurs across the country to assess and establish a benchmark on the present state of BSF rearing, sustainable production, marketing practices, and related challenges. Findings revealed that BSF farmers were male, aged 26-50, with no formal training, and mainly relied on social media (62.5%) for knowledge. Around 81.3 and 75% of farm owners used vegetable and poultry waste as feed for BSF, respectively. All the respondents identified temperature and season, whereas 50% of them recognized light as the influencing factor for production fluctuation in BSF farms. Entrepreneurs identified the presence of housefly, blow fly, fruit fly, and other flies in the BSF feed as decomposers. Most of the entrepreneurs (92.8%) used BSF larvae for poultry feed, whereas 64.2% of them used this as aqua feed. Dead BSF adults (53.85%) and exoskeletons (46.15%) are mainly used as by-products for soil amendment. Absence of scientific advice, insufficient organic waste supply, limited insect knowledge, and mismanagement of BSF market channel were the top-ranked constraints in BSF production and marketing. To overcome these challenges, all of the surveyed entrepreneurs demanded a national forum on BSF farming along with a standard BSF rearing training program (81.3%) and modern machinery supply (75%) for the sustainable mass production and marketing of BSF.