Black Soldier Flies Could Turn Solomon Islands’ Waste into Feed

Can Black Soldier Flies Turn Solomon Islands’ Food Waste into Fish and Livestock Feed?

Honiara, Solomon Islands, October 12, 2026 — WorldFish and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) are exploring whether black soldier fly larvae can turn food and market waste into feed for fish, pigs and poultry in Solomon Islands. The work is part of the CGIAR Food Frontiers and Security Program’s push for resilient island food systems.

Background

Solomon Islands generates about 98 kilograms of waste per person a year, roughly 53,500 tons nationally. Two-thirds is organic, yet only about 3% is recovered or reused. Fertilizer use is among the world’s lowest, at 29.5 kilograms per hectare as of 2022. Imported fertilizer and feed are costly and unreliable across a scattered archipelago, so most smallholders farm with little external input and backyard pigs and chickens eat mainly kitchen scraps. That keeps farming low-input but caps production in a country still facing undernutrition and stunting.

What Is Already Happening

At the WorldFish Nusatupe Innovation Hub, young interns trained with the Kastom Garden Association (KGA) learn organic farming and rear black soldier fly larvae on food scraps and market waste. The larvae are protein-rich feed for fish, chickens and pigs. KGA’s Pita Tikai said people “didn’t think you could grow things on coral ground, but you can produce anything.”

A composting network is also emerging in Honiara. City Council waste head Wilson Eta said the council trucks organic waste from Honiara Central Market to small composters, including KGA, which turns coconut shells and cassava peels into compost for seedlings it sells. The council is reviving a composting plant at the Solomon Islands National University. A SPREP pilot site operates at the botanical gardens, and the model has reached Gizo in Western Province. Separately, UNDP is supporting biogas trials from commercial piggeries in Malaita and Guadalcanal, relevant in a country where 96% of electricity still comes from imported diesel.

The Missing Link: Coordination

The authors say the gap is coordination, not ideas. Market-waste diversion, composting and larvae trials each progress separately, and feed-focused work is still pilot-scale. Most fish, pig and poultry farmers still rely on traditional feed. The opportunity is to link existing initiatives, including support for the fisheries ministry’s push to expand tilapia farming, which needs dependable, affordable feed. Papua New Guinea’s emerging black soldier fly industry offers a reference for training and scaling.

Next Steps

WorldFish and IWMI plan an innovation scoping and scaling workshop in the coming months, bringing together partners to move from isolated pilots to a connected approach to circularity. The blog is by Susanne Bodach and Thushari Gamage of IWMI and Janine Naitara of WorldFish.

Conclusion

Solomon Islands’ experience shows how island states can turn a waste problem into a feed and fertilizer supply. The next step, in the authors’ words, is turning scattered experimentation into a plan for scale.