For many people in Western Kenya, the rainy seasons used to bring joy with the uninterrupted supply of a natural delicacy of termites, popularly known as chiswa.
It was a normal thing to be welcomed by scenes of small blanket-covered tents propped up on sticks on the fields, with boys and women busy trapping and harvesting the termites.
But this is no longer the case.
The termites, which scientists say are rich in proteins and calcium, are no longer readily available.
Locals who would trap the termites and hawk them around in homesteads, social joints and market places have now been forced to go all the way to Lodwar in Turkana and in West Pokot in search of them.
Conservationists attribute this to chemicals sprayed on crops, which have seen these termites flee.
Supply from Lodwar
Millicent Wafula, a mother of four who lives in Bungoma, is disappointed at the new turn of events.
“We have been forced to get these termites all the way from Lodwar from people who ferry them in lorries and sell them to us, after people killed the termites in this region by using chemicals after planting sugar cane,” says a disappointed Ms Wafula.
Ms Wafula, who used to build the tents for collecting the termites herself, now has to pay Sh100 for cup of the insects, which she then sells at a Sh50 profit. But she is quick to add that she would get more if she was still able to trap the termites herself.
Mr Ali Juma Wekite, born in Samoya in Bungoma in 1953, feels he has lost an important part of his history.
“My grandmother would say that these termites were medicinal and that we would not get sick if we ate them. And we loved it. We enjoyed assisting in the trapping of this delicacy. But that is no more,” says Mr Wekite.
Cooking
The termites were trapped in a small tent erected and covered with blankets, leaving a small opening that leads to a hole dug at the opening where the termites will slide into.
The termites are often fried or sundried, and are usually eaten with ugali.
A 2013 report by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (Fao) estimated that more than 2.5 billion people on the planet eat various insects, even as it called on more people to feed on them.
Grasshoppers are the most consumed insects on earth, followed by termites, the 2013 report says.
“Insects are still viewed as pests by a large majority of people, despite the increasing literature pointing to their valuable role in the diets of humans and animals,” Fao says in the 2013 study.
Millicent Wafula sells roasted termites in Bungoma town to mzee Ali Juma Wekite.
Environmental issue
In Bungoma, Mr Alex Owiti and Mr Harrison Barasa from Webuye say the disappearance of the termites is a serious environmental matter they want urgently addressed.
There are various types of the chiswa in the local dialect, with the chiswa chisi being the smallest, known for their black colour.
These ones are mostly seen from about 2pm to 4pm in the months of September to December.
Then there are the chinunda, brown in colour, and which come out after 5pm, between December and February.
The kanabuli are blackish and also appear between December and February between 6pm and 7pm.
The khamakhubwe are brownish and appear after the season of kanabuli, although they are not eaten. Chinome, black in colour, normally come out when it is raining, mostly between June and October, while the chindawa, also black, are seen between April and May.
Then there are the kamaresi, which are dark-brown and the biggest of them all. They appear at night between April and June and are captured using light, to which they are attracted.
BY DAILY NATION