From maggots to solutions: A young scientist turning waste into opportunity in the Caribbean

07/04/2026

From a young age, Rakesh Bhukal imagined a future in fields as diverse as accounting, aviation and the oil industry, but growing up in a rural village, surrounded by the natural world, a different passion took hold: the sciences, specifically environmental studies, began to captivate him. He saw how environmentalists across the globe were making real change, and he knew he wanted to be one of them.

"I believe that once you have a strong drive and a passion towards something, you must have the technical know-how and the expertise," he says. His belief that any dream that comes to mind can be achieved drove him to pursue a degree in Environmental and Natural Resource Management with minors in Marine Biology and Zoology at the University of the West Indies (UWI). His ultimate goal was to make a difference in the world.

Bhukal's path to making that difference took an unexpected turn when he was introduced to the Black Soldier Fly (BSF) project, a groundbreaking initiative funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with UWI and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries of Trinidad and Tobago.

The project's goal is to introduce insect production as a sustainable, local source of high-quality protein for animal feed. This is a critical need, as feed prices can comprise up to 70% of livestock production costs, and the Caribbean region spends millions of dollars annually on imported feed ingredients like soybean cake.

BSF larvae-maggots, essentially can do something remarkable. They can turn organic waste into two valuable products: high-protein animal feed and nutrient-rich biofertilizer. For a country like Trinidad and Tobago, which consumes more than 1.3 million kilograms of chicken every week - requiring 6.8 million kilograms of feed - that’s a potential gamechanger. Locally produced insect meal could replace costly imported feed ingredients, strengthen food security, and cut waste.

Discovering local solutions

The project presented a major challenge: how to source the BSF larvae? The initial idea was to import them from the United Kingdom (UK), but the project team discussed two significant risks. First, these foreign flies could become an invasive species and disrupt the local ecosystem. Second, there was no guarantee the imported flies would adapt to the Caribbean's unique climate and conditions. With his background in zoology and fieldwork, Bhukal was put forward by the project team to find a local solution. The young scientist went out into the wild, "digging around rotten breadfruit" and searching for maggots in their natural habitats.

Rakesh, drawing on his fieldwork experience, asked: “Why bring in foreign flies when we have our own?” Bhukal recalls. “If we use local populations, we avoid the risk of invasiveness and we already know they’re adapted to our climate.”

So began a rather unusual adventure. With the dedicated facility still being renovated, Rakesh turned the only space he had – a spare room in his rented apartment – into a makeshift insect bioreactor to support the swift start of the project. Bhukal scoured chicken farms, set bait traps filled with rotting vegetables, and painstakingly sifted through wriggling masses of larvae to find the BSF among the other species. “We’re talking thousands of maggots,” he laughs.

His determination paid off. Bhukal almost single-handedly developed the insect bioreactor, a facility at UWI where BSF are now studied, researched and bred. The BSF larvae are a powerful tool in the fight for sustainability. They possess a unique ability to convert organic waste into high-quality protein and valuable biofertilizer within a matter of days. The larvae’s diet of food waste, such as fruit and vegetable scraps, would otherwise end up in landfills or be dumped into the sea.

FAO estimates that utilizing just 50% of the available organic waste could produce enough insects to feed 50–100% of the broilers produced in the Caribbean. This represents a major step toward transforming food systems and building a circular food economy.

For national stakeholders and funding agencies, the project offers a concrete opportunity to invest in solutions that strengthen more resilient and sustainable food systems across the Caribbean.

FAO’s vision is that by 2026 insect farming will become a viable industry in the Caribbean, with farmers, feed companies and governments adopting it as part of a more sustainable circular economy. The UWI facility will function as a regional knowledge hub, promoting training, knowledge exchange and the development of new enterprises.

Rakesh has a message for those who still feel uncertain about the idea: “Don’t let the word ‘maggot’ scare you. Once you see what these flies can do,” the researcher says, “you’ll realise they’re not pests. They are partners.”