Practicality of farming termites?

In some parts of the world, termites are consumed opportunistically by humans. I'm considering the possibility of using mound-building fungus-farming macrotermes as livestock for a culture of corvid that dwell in arid regions. I've calculated that a large corvid would need to consume around 70 kcal per day, but since they have a healthy agricultural system, I'd say termites need not comprise more than a fifth of that. My research suggests that 5g (5,000 workers) of raw termites would be 17 kcal, 23% protein, 28% fat, and 44% water.

Assume that with this species of termites, a single colony could comfortably provide 5g termites a day. A household would require multiple colonies.

Is this realistic? Would the dietary and spacial requirements of multiple macrotermes colonies be practical for husbandry, or would the costs outweigh the benefits?

posted about 7 years ago

RLuebke‭

1 reputation 5 0 0 0