LETTERS: The latest chicken price increase has caused another stir.
The reason for the hike, as told by the authorities, is the increase in the price of chicken feed, which constitutes about 70 per cent of production costs.
Several measures have been implemented by the government in response to the issue such as setting a ceiling price through subsidies and increasing the volume of imported whole chicken.
The Agriculture and Food Industries Ministry is mulling the domestic production of grain corn as one of the long-term intervention measures, owing to the fact that almost 55 per cent of poultry feed is made up of corn.
Once in place, this would increase the percentage of locally sourced ingredients in chicken feed, which is less than 10 per cent.
However, no one has proposed to explore the use of alternative ingredients as chicken feed despite their potential and practicality.
Insects and tapioca, in particular, possess the ability to partially replace the conventional commercial poultry feed as suggested by research papers, including the ones published by local scientists, as well as by the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
In fact, they have been used by chicken farmers in several countries, albeit not widely.
As chickens are naturally omnivores, adding insects like black soldier fly (BSF) larvae and crickets to their diet would not harm them as they would prey on these insects in the wild.
What's more, both insects are high in essential amino acids and protein digestibility.
Studies have also found that the meat and eggs of insect-fed chickens are of equal (if not superior) quality.
The same goes for tapioca, whereby a number of studies stated that it could partially replace corn by up to 50 per cent without compromising on the weight gain and growth of broilers.
Crickets and BSF larvae are easy to breed. They thrive well in the tropical Malaysian climate and can be fed with human food waste, which makes them more cost-effective.
Tapioca, too, is economical as it is easy to grow and robust by nature. It can be cultivated on poor, degraded soils that are not suitable for other plants.
Apart from that, breeding crickets and BSF are not labour-intensive, neither do they need a wide area to grow well.
Chicken farmers can rear them on their farms and the government can convert underutilised spaces, abandoned buildings and construction projects into breeding sites for these critters.
What we need is a series of multidisciplinary research involving entomologists, veterinarians andscientists to study each stage of the process — from the best food waste for the insects to the best ratio of eachingredient in the diet of chickens.
If these local ingredients are proven safe to replace the imported chicken feed, we can possibly lower the cost of chicken feed and reduce the price of chicken in the market.
It can also reduce our import bill, consequently strengthening our currency. This can also offer additional income to our citizens.
Hence, a more feasible and long-term measure to stabilise the chicken price is much needed and can be sustainable too.
SHAHRUL AMRI AB WAHAB
SYAZLIANA KASIM
Faculty of Business and Management, UiTM, Negri Sembilan branch, Rembau campus
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times