Review Of Literature On Commercialization Of Insects And Their Products
Introduction
Insects have always been a valuable part of life on earth, but humans have started to use them in various other ways. Nowadays when you mention insects humans have a very specific idea of what insects are. This ranges from charming cartoon characters to terrifying beasts that only want to harm them. What many people don’t realise though is that insects play an enormous role in our daily lives. Humans have learnt how to commercialize insects in a large scale. Insects are being used to create massive businesses that sell not only insects but also their products for various different uses. These functions include crop pollination, health and agricultural protection, pharmaceuticals, food for humans, pets and livestock, implements for conducting research and many other. As an indication of the large role-player that insects have become in modern life, it is estimated that insects can cause as much as US$ 70. 0 billion per year internationally in damages to crops alone. It is further estimated that insects can cause up to US$ 6. 9 billion of damage to human health per year globally. The amount of damage will only increase as the human population keeps on growing and keeps demanding more and more. In a paper by Crist et al. (2017) it is stated that the median estimates are that by the mid of this century the population would have grown to 9. 7 billion people, and by the end of this century there will be 11. 2 billion people on earth. The paper furthermore states that food production will have to double if not triple before the end of the century. This puts into perspective just how large of an impact insects have in our current lives as well as in our futures. The goal of this article is to review existing literature regarding the commercialization of insects and their products and to expand on the various commerses.
Crop Pollination
A larger majority of the crops consumed by humans is angiosperms. These are also known as flowering plants. These plants are mostly pollinated/fertilized by insects. Gallai et al. (2009) stated that 87 of the 124 main crops that humans feed on are dependent on pollinators. In a study completed by Bommarco et al. (2012) it was found that insect pollination is required to increase the yield and seed quality of a crop. Their study showed that 18% of the yield can be contributed to insect pollination and a further 20% to market value. Sabbahi et al. (2005) found that the introduction of honey bees to a crop could increase the yield by as much as 46%. Due to this fact humans have domesticated bees of all sorts for at least 4000 years and created large industries from it.
As mentioned above, the most widely used insect in pollination is bees. This includes regular honey bees (Apis mellifera), leafcutting and mason bees (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Beekeepers keep colonies of these bees and when a farmer requires the services of pollinators the farmer will rent these colonies to place them next to his/her field for a certain amount of time, allowing the bees to travel through the field and fertilize the crop.
Agricultural Protection and Human Health
Insects have been credited with spreading various devastating infectious diseases in not only humans but in livestock as well. Furthermore, insects have been found to be a large cause of damage to crops, food stores, forests and various ecosystems. Due to this, insects can probably be considered as the costliest animal to human society. Just as much as insects can increase the yield of a farmer’s crop, they can also cause enormous amounts of damage to crops. It was found that insects can cause enough damage to crops so that 10%-16% of agricultural yields can be lost before the harvest, with a very similar amount of devastation following the harvest.
Richards et al. (2016) said that the estimated economic damage that is caused by invasive insect species alone amount to $137 billion. This large impact insects have led to the creation of arguably the largest industry that has to do with insects namely agricultural insecticides. In 2001 a total amount of US$ 1, 326 billion was spent on insecticides in the United States of America. This is only one industry that has been developed though. Another large industry that has been created in response to the damage caused by insects is the biological control of pests. This entails introducing the natural enemies of a pest species to the area so that there is a natural way of battling the pest. The industry has enlarged to include the rearing and supplying of insect pathogens, predatory insects, parasitoids and even killer bees that are used to scare elephants away from crops in certain countries.
Many insects are also detrimental to human health. The cost insects have on human health globally is said to exceed US$ 6. 9 billion per year excluding diseases like malaria which are only vectored by mosquitos. This has led to the development of even more pesticides, but most importantly it has led to another part of the biocontrol sector. Pest species to humans are sterilized and these sterilized insects are then released into the natural population to combat the procreation of the pests. Other predacious insects can also be introduced so suppress the pests. As this is a quickly expanding industry many government agencies are also investing in it.
Human Therapy and Health Improvement
The use of insects to treat human ailments has been proven to sometimes be more effective than drugs and surgery from Western medicines. The venom of honey bees has for example been used to ameliorate inflammations and autoimmune conditions. Although this is not a very popular form of treatment, it is still marketed by major companies for its therapeutic properties. Another form of health improvement insects can supply is with maggot debridement. In this technique maggots are placed in wounds to cleanse them of necrotic tissue without causing any damage to the underlying healthy tissue. Humans have realised the potential of this form of therapy as early as the 16th century already. Live ants like the Amazonian army ants and carpenter ants are also used to close wounds. As humans are becoming ever more conscious about what they put into their bodies this industry has seen a large resurgence.
Insect Identification
As seen in all the points already mentioned, it is vital to know exactly what insects are being dealt with. This demand has created a very large gap in the market to identify insects, and many insect identification services can be found all around the globe. Many of these services specialize in agriculturally or medicinally important insects.
Food Products
A study by Agbidye et al. (2009) found that forest insects have a high nutritive value with some edible species consisting of 74% crude proteins. The study found that the nutritional value in insects is high enough that if there are high enough quantities of these insects a whole household could be fed with them. That study of course only focused on insects as a direct source of food. Kampmeier & Irwin (2009) estimate that there are about 500 species from 260 genera emanating from 70 different families are being used as human food somewhere in the world. The same study also claims that even more insects are being used as feed for pets and livestock. They also claim that in experiments run in China it was found that having an insect-derived diet can be an extremely cost-effective way to feed pets and livestock.
In the study by Agbidye et al. (2009) they also found that the selling of insects as food contribute to a large percentage of household income in third world countries. With the human population growing as rapidly as it is at the moment food production will have to triple by the end of the century. That information makes it obvious that insects will become a vital part of all diets in the future. Insects are already being sold as food, but in the future the industry will expand as to become a very vital part of the economy. Insect products have been used for many years as a source of food as well. From the ancient Egyptian times the products that are created by insects have been used as a source of food for people. As mentioned earlier there is a large industry built around the pollination of crops with honey bees. As a result of that industry the honey industry has been created. The honey is harvested from these bee colonies and is sold as pure honey as well as ingredients in other products. Many other industries have arisen from the needs of the beekeepers such as the rearing of honey bees, the clarifying and straining of honey and the upkeep of hives.
Secretions and Dyes
It is well known that insects secrete substances that can be used by humans and thus have a high commercial value. Certain insects can also be used to extract dyes from. Probably the best-known industry that takes advantage of insect secretions is sericulture. This is an industry based on the secretion of the silkworm, Bombyx mori. The silk that this moth larvae secrete is collected and undergoes various processes to create raw silk that can later be used in clothes and many other products as well. Once again, many other industries arise from this main field, namely the culture of silkworms, obtaining and refining silk, selling the equipment needed and creating the clothing. Although not commercially viable yet, large amounts of research is being done on spider silk as it is an incredibly strong material for its weight while remaining extremely elastic.
Another form of secretions that is used by humans is the wax created by bees. For centuries it has been used to make candles, polish for woods and varnishes, packaging, processing and preservation of foods and many more.
Ecotourism and Biodiversity Conservation
Human population increase is causing many forest ecosystems to be degraded and to be completely destroyed. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that annually 9 million hectares of forest is being destroyed, along with all the ecosystems in them. This has led to major conservation efforts being launched by various private and government institutes accounting for millions of dollars. Many endangered species of insects are being reared and bred to later release them back into the wild or to be sold to conservation companies. The conservation efforts are mainly because of ecotourism. Ecotourism is a major part of the economies of various tropical countries that have many exotic species. This whole sector is based upon the attractiveness and wonder of nature. Insects are a large part of nature’s appeal. Many areas are marked as conservation areas where it is illegal to cause any form of disturbance to the ecosystems. Many tourist industries are entirely based on insects and their habitats. As a by-product of this industry many other industries have benefited from it namely accommodations, guided tours and fine dining as well.
Conclusion
The conclusion that can be made from this review is that insects play a massive role in not only our modern day life but also in our future. The findings made through this article also indicates that insects have a large effect on the global economy. The various industries that have arisen from insects can be diverted into three sub categories. There is direct influence, secondary influence and by-products. The direct influence can be considered as the destruction of crops and the damage caused to human health directly. That also includes the pollination of crops and field to increase yields. The secondary influence can be considered as the reaction on the primary influences. These would include the use of biological control methods to counter the pests, ecotourism, etc. The last category is the by-product category. This does not just include the by-products created by the insects themselves but the businesses that benefit from the other categories.
