BANGKOK — A unique project to breed crickets for human consumption is underway in a small village in northeastern Thailand, part of an effort to boost income in the country’s poorest region.
Interest in insects as a sustainable source of protein is growing as the world continues to struggle with population growth and rising meat consumption. The village in Buriram Province, for its part, hopes to turn crickets into cash.
The project is led by Mechai Viravaidya, a former minister of the Thai Prime Minister’s Office, who has become famous for his role in campaigns to fight population growth and AIDS in the country.
Located in a corner of a study center in Buriram’s Khok Klang subdistrict, the cricket farm is composed of numerous plastic containers. Each box contains egg cartons, and insects, which make nests in the cartons, occasionally poking their heads out in search of food and water….
