Entomophagy practices, use patterns, and factors influencing perception and consumption frequency of edible insects in the Republic of Benin

The survey was carried out in 91 villages located across the departments of Atacora (Latitudes/ Longitude: 10° 45′ 0" N/1° 40′ 0" E), Alibori (Latitudes/ Longitude: 11°19′ 0" N/2°55′ 0" E), Zou (Latitudes/ Longitude: 7° 15′ 0" N/2° 10′ 0" E) and Plateau (Latitudes/ Longitude: 7° 10′ 0" N/2° 34′ 60" E) in the Republic of Benin (Fig. 1). These departments are known as the main areas of consumption of edible insects in Benin [6, 12‐14, 16]. The departments of Atacora and Alibori located in the north of Benin are characterized by a Sudano-Sahelian climate (humid tropical) with a unimodal rainfall regime with a rainy season (April to October) and a dry season (November to March). The average annual rainfall varies from 700 to 1,200 mm with average annual temperatures varying between 26 and 27 °C. This region has a diversity of soils (raw mineral soils, cambisols, tropical ferruginous soils, ferralitic soils, and hydromorphic soils) with woody, shrubby, and grassy vegetation. The departments of Zou and Plateau located in south Benin have a bimodal climate (Sudano-Guinean type) with two rainy seasons and two dry seasons A major rainy season (March to July), a minor dry season in August, a minor rainy season (September to November) and a major dry season (December to March). Annual rainfall varies from 900 to 1300 mm with dominant soils of ferralitic type. The average annual temperature is 28 °C. In the study area, agricultural activities are most dominant, and indigenous knowledge is extensive in terms of the uses of plants and animals for medicinal and cultural purposes [12].

The sample size for the study was determined using the formula of Dagnelie [19]:"n" the required sample size."N" the actual size of the population."ET" the standard error (margin of error) tolerable for the survey: ET = 0.05."z" the normal standard value of the confidence interval: Z ≈ 1.96."p" proportion of rural population in study areas.

The size n of the sample is thus substantially equal to 400 individuals. The number of people interviewed per locality was determined by proportionality considering the size of the population of each locality. However, only people who had eaten edible insects at least once in their life were included in the survey.

The respondents of this study were people who had practiced entomophagy in the past and who, today, continue or not to consume edible insects. These respondents were chosen from the villages of the Alibori, Atacora, Zou and Plateau departments, which represent the major regions of consumption of edible insects in the Republic of Benin [6, 12‐14, 16]. In each department, the surveyed villages were chosen on the basis of previous studies mentioning edible insects carried out in the Republic of Benin [12‐14, 16]. Within each selected village, the surveyed households practicing entomophagy were chosen with the help of the village chief, and using the snowball method [20]. In total, 479 rural households consuming edible insects were surveyed in the study area (Table 1).

Data were collected during face-to-face interviews on the basis of a pre-tested and revised questionnaire. The survey was carried out during the rainy season (July to October 2022) by two trained investigators. The oral consent of the participants was taken after the presentation of the objectives of the survey. Translators were recruited locally and impregnated with the questionnaire to facilitate exchanges with the interviewees. The number of surveyed households varied from one department to another, depending on the edible insect’s consumers at the level of each surveyed village (Table 1). The collected data focused primarily on the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents (gender, age, ethnicity, religion, type of household, diet, income source, and education level), which are known as having a positive impact on respondents' willingness, perception, consumption, and acceptance of edible insects [21‐24]. Among the respondents, 62.63% were men and the majority were illiterate (55.95%). The great majority of interviewees were married (80.17%) with a predominance of monogamous households (51.15%). Ottamari (37.79%), Yoruba (27.97%), and Dendi (18.8%) were the most represented ethnic groups. The respondents were Christians (45.93%), Muslims (29.44%), or Animists (24.63%). Agriculture was the main source of income (48.23%) of the surveyed households (Table 1). The second part of the survey was focused on the inventory of edible insects as well as the documentation of frequency of consumption, parts consumed, consumer preferences, seasonal availability, environmental factors affecting the diversity of edible insects, and traditional uses. The perception of the surveyed households on the edible insect’s consumption was assessed through a 5-point Likert scale (1 = completely disagree, 5 = completely agree) [9]. Samples of edible insects were also collected and stored in plastic boxes containing 70° ethanol for identification in the laboratory. Voucher samples were deposited at the Laboratory of applied entomology (LEnA) of the National High school of Applied Biosciences and Biotechnologies (ENSBBA).

The descriptive analysis was carried out to summarize the sociodemographic characteristics of the surveyed households. Chi-square (χ²) or Fisher test was performed to assess the relationship between insect consumption practices and ethnic groups. Principal component analysis (PCA) using the Facto Mine R package was performed [25] to describe the different uses of edible insects and respondents' perceptions of insect consumption with respect to ethnic groups.

The use value (UV) of each of the edible insect species inventoried in the study area was calculated following Alves et al. [26] using the formula:where Ni is the number of respondents who mentioned the use of the edible insect species, and Nt is the total number of respondents.

The fidelity level (FL), the percentage of respondents claiming the use of a certain species of edible insects for the same major purpose, was calculated for the most frequently reported diseases or ailments as:where Np is the number of respondents that claim of use an edible insect’s species to treat a particular disease, and N is the number of respondents that use the edible insects as a medicine to treat any given disease [27].

Hierarchical Clustering on Principal Components (HCPC) was performed to assess the influence of social, cultural, and economic characteristics of respondents on the perception of insect consumption. The HCPC consisted of a Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) realised on the perception measures and on the social characteristics of the respondents, followed by a hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) on the principal components from the MCA. To select the variables for each perception group, we measured the difference between the class values and the overall values. These statistics were converted into a criterion called the value test (V-test) to perform a selection on the variables, and thus determine the most characteristic variables [28, 29]. The most characteristic variables of a group were those for which the test of associated values was greater in absolute value than 2. Moreover, if this test of value was positive for a variable, it had a high value in the class considered. On the other hand, if the value was negative, the variable had a low value for the class.

A multivariable logistic regression of the outcome of edible insect consumption (No/Yes) on the independent variables (age group, gender, ethnic group, religion, education level, main source of income, and market accessibility) was conducted to determine their association. The conditional association of the different independent variables with the outcome was quantified using odds ratios.

All the analyses were performed in R version 4.3 [30] and a significance level of 5% was considered. The graphs for the descriptive analysis were constructed using the package ggplot2.

The majority of the surveyed people (79.1%) were still consumers of edible insects and since several years ago (29.1 ± 17.2 years). The remaining surveyed people (20.9%) have consumed edible insects at least once in the past but no longer consume them. Most of the surveyed men (49.7%) consume edible insects against 29.4% of the surveyed women. Contrary to the other departments where the consumption of insects by the surveyed people is more recent, those surveyed in the Atacora department have consumed them since their childhood (39.3 ± 14.3 years of consumption on average). Among the nutrient’s sources of the surveyed households, edible insects represent 10 and 30% of annual intake (Table 2). About 33.6% of the surveyed people consumed edible insects at least once a month and only 21.3% consume them almost daily. There were no significant differences according to gender (p = 0.795) and level of education (p = 0.402) in the frequency of consumption of edible insects. Throughout the study area, insect consumption is usually family-based (79.3%). However, in the plateau department, entomophagy is much more practiced by parents (Table 2). Fried insects (71.8% of the surveyed people) are the preferred form of consumption in the study area. A difference in terms of the frequency of insect consumption was observed across departments (p < 0.001), age (p =  < 0.001), and religion (p =  < 0.001). More illiterate (44.9%), Christian (37.9%), and adult (57.4%) respondents continue to practice entomophagy compared to others (Fig. 2).

Eight reasons were mentioned by the surveyed people for insect consumption (Fig. 3). The delicious taste of edible insects (85.6%) and the cultural values (44.3%) associated with them were mentioned as the most important reasons. The good taste similar to fish (31.7%), the seasonal fish scarcity (23.2%), the food diversification, and the ease of preparing edible insects (28.2%) were listed by some households as reasons for insect consumption. While, some surveyed households consume edible insects specifically for their fatty content (15.5%), by pleasure (8.1%), or by lack of money (4.4%).

Insect species belonging to 17 genera were used as food and that some were identified to species level in the study area (Table 3). The inventoried insects belong to 7 scientific families with the order of the Orthoptera (52.9%) being the most represented. Fourteen, 7 and 6 edible insect species were listed respectively in the departments of Atacora, Plateau, and Zou. While, only 3 edible insect species were listed in the Alibori department. In the study area, the most consumed insects were Brachytrupes membranaceus Drury (Fig. 4), followed by Macrotermes subhyalinus Rambur, Macrotermes bellicosus Smeathman, and Rhynchophorus phoenicis Fabricus (Table 3). However, only, B. membranaceus was consumed by people in all the surveyed departments. The insect species consumed by the surveyed people varied according to ethnic groups (Fig. 5). Oryctes monoceros Olivier, R. phoenicis, and Macrotermes ivorensis Grassé & Noirot were more consumed by Yoruba, Fon et Adja ethnic groups. While Acanthacris ruficornis citrina Serville was more consumed by the Dendi ethnic group. The thirteen remaining species were consumed mainly by the other ethnic groups in the study area (Fig. 5).

The collection of edible insects was done mainly in the wild with a period of accessibility coinciding mainly with the rainy season. Edible insects are mainly collected from crop fields (38.3%), houses (37.3%), savannas (15.2%), forests (3.4%), public places (2.9%), and mountains (2.9%). Six factors affecting the accessibility to edible insects were identified in the study area (Fig. 6). The most important factors were chemical pollution in edible insect collection fields (91.6% of surveyed people), climate variability (87.8%), and destruction of ecosystems (78.4%). Twenty-five chemical pesticides were perceived by the surveyed people as contributing to the chemical pollution of edible insect collection fields. Among them, 10 herbicides, 13 insecticides, and 2 fungicides were recorded (Table 4). The most used herbicides in edible insect collection fields are Nicomais 40 SC (12.1% of responses) and Kalach Extra 70 SG (9.8%) while Sunpyrifos 48% EC (12.7%) was the most cited insecticide.

Besides their food use (63.2%), edible insects in the study area were used in traditional medicine (19%), spiritual uses (8.8%), poultry feed (6.1%), animal trap (1.3%), sold in markets (1%), and for fishing (0.6%). The use values of edible insects in the study area varied from 0.14 (Cybister sp.) to 1 (B. membranaceus) (Table 3). Eight edible insect species were used by the surveyed people of Atacora and Plateau departments to treat diverse ailments (Table 5). These insects are often mixed with honey for oral administration or shea butter for topical application. Among all the species of edible insects inventoried, fried grasshoppers (A. ruficornis citrina) and tobacco crickets (B. membranaceus) are the only ones listed as sold in markets mainly in the Alibori department (Fig. 7). These insects were sold either in piles or with a local measuring instrument called "Togolo" whose price varied depending on the insect and the period. Using the local "Togolo" measure, grasshoppers and crickets were sold at 1500FCFA and 2000 FCFA respectively in the dry season (November to March). While, in the rainy season (April to October), the price was falling ranging from 1000 to 1500FCFA for one "Togolo" of grasshoppers and crickets, respectively. In the Plateau department, R. phoenicis and Spathosternum pygmaeum Karsch were used by some people as bait to catch freshwater fish. While, B. membranaceus and Gryllus bimaculatus De Geer, M. bellicosus, M. falciger, Ornithacris turbida cavroisi, and S. pygmaeum were used for animal trap and poultry feed by some interviewed people of Atacora department. Except for A. ruficornis citrina and Cybister sp., the others listed as edible insects are used for spiritual purposes by the people interviewed mainly in the Atacora and Alibori departments.

The results of the principal component analysis showed that the factorial design formed by axis 1 and 2 explains 88.6% of the initial total variability of the different traditional uses of edible insects by ethnic groups (Fig. 8). The analysis showed that most surveyed people of Ottamari ethnic group used edible insects for traditional medicine and for animal trapping. While the surveyed people from the Bariba ethnic group mainly use edible insects for spiritual purposes. On the other hand, the surveyed people from the Adja and Cotimba ethnic groups mainly use edible insects to feed poultry. Respondents from the Dendi ethnic group are mainly involved in selling edible insects. While those of the Yoruba ethnic group use them for fishing. The majority of surveyed people of the Fon and Peulh ethnic groups used edible insects only for food.

The factorial design formed by the first two axes explains 70.3% of the initial total variability of the different perceptions of entomophagy made by the respondents (Fig. 9). The analyses revealed that the Linkert scale such as disagree and strongly disagree are positively correlated with axis 1 in contrast to those of agree or strongly agree. Axis 2 is negatively correlated with the neutral scale, don't know. In general, the overall pattern of different assessments towards entomophagy perception showed that respondents are not afraid to eat insects. The majority of respondents consider edible insects to be nutritious, and feel good after eating them and therefore, shows a willingness to purchase edible insects as a new manufactured product. More than half of the respondents consumed insects because of their delicious taste (85.6%) and 31.7% consumed them for their fish-like taste. Some respondents (40.3%) consumed insects because of the cultural values associated with them. However, the surveyed people do not recommend to guests or teach their friends to eat insects. It also appears from their response that edible insects are no longer available as before and they do not trade insects and therefore do not make them a source of income. Furthermore, they are unaware of the effect of insect consumption on the health and well-being of children, and also of the impact of climate change on the availability of insects.

The results of the Hierarchical Clustering on Principal Components (HCPC) showed that 79.52% of the initial variability of the perception measures and social characteristics was retained on the first 60 axes of the Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA). The hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) identified three groups of perceptions related to sociocultural and economic characteristics (Fig. 10).

The first cluster, which included 14.31% of respondents was characterized by consumers with a very negative perception of entomophagy and are not ready to promote it (Table 6). These respondents are notably Ottamari (55.22%; p < 0.001) and Cotimba (13.43%; p = 0.004), animists (38.81%; p = 0.001) with a high level of education (secondary: 35.82%, p < 0.001; university: 8.96%, p = 0.001) and whose frequency of insect consumption is average (38.81%, p < 0.001). The second cluster included 59.40% of the respondents mainly Yorouba (36.69%, p < 0.001) and Ottamari (50.72%, p < 0.001) consumers with a positive perception of entomophagy and its promotion (Table 7). The majority of these respondents are adults (74.82%, p = 0.003) and older persons (11.87%, p < 0.001) who practice the religion of Christianity (57.91%, p < 0.001) and who have a high frequency of insect consumption (73.74%, p < 0.001). However, these respondents are unaware of the health benefits of eating edible insects and do not adhere to their sales. The third group including 26.29% of the respondents belonging to the Dendi (65.85%, p < 0.001) and Fon (21.95%, p < 0.001) ethnic groups, practicing Islam (73.17%, p < 0.001) who are very favourable to entomophagy and its promotion (Table 8). This acceptability of entomophagy is associated with a young age (32.52%; p < 0.001) and a low frequency of insect consumption (32.52%; p < 0.001). They have knowledge of the health benefits of edible insects and are willing to buy them despite their low monthly consumption.

The test of chi-square or Fisher exact showed strong evidence (p < 0.001) that the proportion of participants who eat the insect is associated with the ethnic group, and religion and also linked to their accessibility of market (Table 9). On the other hand, there was no evidence that the consumption of the insect is associated with gender (p = 0.92), age group (p = 0.21), education (p = 0.54), and source of income (p = 0.98). The results of the full model taking into account all the factors indicated that the covariates considered in this model, with the exception of the ethnic group, religion, and market accessibility, were no evidence (p > 0.05) on edible insect consumption. Thus, this model leads to the same results as the univariate tests performed on each of the factors. Therefore, edible insect consumption is associated with an ethnic group, religion, and market accessibility. Indeed, more Ottamari respondents (p = 0.004) consume insects than other ethnic group participants (Table 10). And the Muslim respondents (p = 0.03) consume weakly insects than Christians and animists. As access to the market becomes increasingly difficult (p < 0.001), people consume more insects (Table 10).