Day 1 – Welcome to Accra and visit of maggot farm in Ashaiman.

 (credits: Nicole Pelusio).

Once arrived at the crowded Accra airport, University of Stirling phD student Emilie Devic and  commercial tilapia farm manager Nicolas welcomed me and picked me up in an hotel nearby for spending my first night in the capital.

Prepupae site in maggot farm (credits: Nicole Pelusio).

The following day I and Emilie got a cab for reaching the town of Ashaiman: a peripheral and chaotic place crossed by lots of sounds. Whilst reaching the agricultural path to the maggot farm we were swallowed by red dust of the streets, exploding colors and smells spreading from every corner.

The maggot farm was stuck in the middle of rice and onions fields, where farmers harvesting there grant you as stranger “Obrowny” (“people made of corn”, because the corn color in Africa is white instead of yellow).

 The experimental farm is made up of 3 greenhouses: the first one hosted the growing trays with larvae and pre-pupae inside, the second one was used as refuge for Black Soldier Fly brood-stocks cages during night and rain, the last one was the Housefly (Musca domestica) brood-stocks accommodation cages.

Black Soldier Fly brood-stocks cages (credits: Nicole Pelusio).

Once we got there Emilie made a breathing training to four Ghanaian researchers, explaining what was daily done in the farm and the fascinating biology of Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens).

In the late afternoon we went to the village of Kpong, a pretty and quite village on the way of the fish-farm where we spent the night after a delicious Ghanaian dinner.