Magmeal is ready for mass production. AgriProtein has raised $11-million to open its first two large-scale commercial fly farms in South Africa.

Magmeal is the end-result of a process called nutrient recycling, still in its infancy.

AgriProtein uses flies, reared on a large scale, to lay eggs that are hatched into larvae, using organic waste material as the food source.

The larvae are harvested, dried and turned into Magmeal – “a natural and sustainable feed for chicken and fish”.

Founder Jason Drew says each of the commercial fly farms will house 8.5-billion flies.

Another 40 farms are planned globally.

The world’s first commercial fly farm will be located in Cape Town and, by headcount, will be the largest farming operation on the planet, quips Drew. It will produce around 2 500 t of Magmeal a year.

AgriProtein is still assessing sites for the second farm.

AgriProtein’s financial backers include the agriculture group Twynam Group, from Australia, and Germany’s s. Oliver fashion group.

“We will start production in early 2015 and ramp up over the following six months until at full production,” says Drew.

The Magmeal will be supplied to local chicken and fish farmers.

“We already supply on a small scale to organic farms and the pet industry,” says Drew.

He says Magmeal has been registered as an animal feed in South Africa by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

He believes Europe will register Magmeal as an animal feed within the next six months.

“It is, after all, what animals would eat in the wild and what free-range chickens and freshwater fish eat today. Independent academic research has tested and proven the efficiency of this natural protein in a range of farmed animals,” explains Drew.

“Instead of polluting the environment with abattoir and other organic waste, it is turned into high- quality protein that can naturally replace fishmeal in industrial farming and help save our seas,” he adds.

AgriProtein plans to start licensing its nutrient recycling technology worldwide in 2015.

“We will start production in Europe and elsewhere using that region’s local waste,” says Drew.

“Within 15 years, we will consider it as normal to recycle our waste nutrients as we do our paper, tin and glass today.”

AgriProtein is a recent winner of the United Nations IFP Innovation Award for Africa.