Sheep Goat Livestock or Insect Livestock?

According to the United Nations, the global population is predicted to reach 9 billion people by 2050. The food sector is looking for a solution to the protein deficit due to per capita protein demand and population growth. Insects are a source of protein that is promoted in both feed and food. The nine billion people who are predicted to live on planet Earth in 2050, need an additional 250 million tons of protein per year, an increase of 50% compared to today. And according to the FAO, crickets need 6 times less feed than cattle, four times less than sheep, and twice less than pigs and broilers to produce the same amount of protein. A number of insect breeding companies have sprung up, especially in Europe for the production of protein from these insects, and there has even been an organization specifically formed for this, namely IPIFF (International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed). About a third of the production of these insects is for food and two-thirds for protein sources of feed. Will we Muslims be raising insects instead of sheep for protein sources? As Muslims, we shouldn't have to eat crickets to get protein intake as is widely promoted in the west. The types of insects permitted to be bred by the European Commission for this purpose include only 7 species of insects, namely 3 types of crickets, 2 types of caterpillars and 2 types of flies. We choose halal Thaiban, namely mutton and lamb.

Consumption of goat-lamb meat per capita in Indonesia is still very low, which is less than 1 kg per year and this could be only during Eid al-Adha or Eid al-Qurban. Of course this is very concerning, so its consumption needs to be increased. Even though this lamb meat is the best meat and the Prophet Muhammad liked it. Protein is one of the important elements for human food and more specifically lamb and goat meat as a source of protein has its own advantages, for more details read here. In a hadith the Prophet Muhammad SAW also ordered his people to keep these sheep because of blessings. These goats and sheep are closely related to the Muslim worship practices, namely aqiqah and qurban which are part of Islamic law (shariah) until the Day of Judgment, so that raising sheep and goats also has many virtues.

"Take care (use) by you goats because in them are blessings." [HR Ahmad]

"No prophet was sent except that he shepherded the goats. The friends ask, are you too?". He replied, "Yes, I used to herd the goats of the residents of Mecca for a few qirath wages." [HR. Al Bukhari, no. 2262] 

Abu Hurairah r.a. said: "Once served to the Prophet Shallallaahu 'alaihi wasallam a bowl of porridge and meat. So he took part of the arm (of the meat), and that part was most liked by the Prophet Muhammad Shallallaahu 'alaihi wasallam." (HR. Muslim)

Abu Hurairah radhiyallahu 'anhu narrated, "The Prophet Shallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam was served meat. The leg (of that meat or thigh) was given to Him. The Prophet Shallallaahu 'alaihi wa sallam liked it, so he took a bite of the meat." (HR. Bukhari and Muslim)

With the development of energy plantations or legume plantations, sheep and goat farming can be increasingly encouraged. The main problem in the form of feed availability and more specifically the source of feed protein becomes easy to overcome. Thus, large capacity farms are also very likely to be developed, because the demand for goat and sheep meat is also very large. In addition, Indonesia's palm oil plantation area which reaches 15 million hectares is also potential for livestock, especially sheep, for more details read here. From this it can be concluded that in anticipation of the population growth, Muslims should be serious about raising these goats - sheep.

Sheep-Palm Oil After Cow-Palm Oil

In 2050 the world's population is estimated to reach 9 billion people. The need for food, especially protein, will also definitely increase. With a human population of 9 billion, protein needs are estimated at 250 million tons per year or 50% more than today's protein production. Insects are strong candidates to achieve the target protein requirement, which can be applied to feed and food. Promotion of protein sources from insects is carried out by a number of countries in Europe. The advantage of insects as a source of protein is mainly because with a smaller amount of feed these insects can produce the same amount of protein as traditional farming. According to the FAO, insects such as crickets need six times less feed than cattle, four times less than sheep, and twice as little as pigs and broilers to produce the same amount of protein.

The types of insects permitted to be bred by the European Commission for this purpose include only 7 species of insects, namely 3 types of crickets, 2 types of caterpillars and 2 types of flies. A number of insect farming companies (insect producers) have also sprung up in Europe and it is estimated that two thirds of these insects are for animal feed and one third for food or human consumption. Protein is one of the important elements in human diet. Islam regulates this food issue, so that only halal food can be consumed by Muslims around the world. And it would be even better is a food group that is halal thayibban. Eating insects such as crickets should be avoided by Muslims and seek better food such as sheep, goats and cows.

In order to meet the protein needs, there are a number of ways that can be done to anticipate the increasing needs. Indonesia is the owner of the largest palm oil plantation in the world with an area of ​​more than 15 million hectares or more than one half of the island of Java and this has great potential if it can be exploited. The integration of cattle farming in palm oil plantations has been widely carried out and this can be optimized by integrating sheep-palm oil plantation also. In fact, the two activities can complement each other because the two activities are not carried out simultaneously in the same palm oil plantation. When palm oil plantations are replanted (plant rejuvenation), then at the age of palm oil trees less than 3.5 years, cows cannot be grazed on that land and the same land can be used for sheep grazing. The replanting (plant rejuvenation) of palm oil plantations is carried out in turns in the palm oil plantation area, so that livestock or sheep grazing also follows suit.

Lamb is halalan thayibban food even used in worship, namely for aqiqah and qurban. The production of sheep-based protein is certainly highly recommended so that in addition to meeting the protein needs in halalab thayibban food, is also to support the practice of worship. With the largest Muslim population in the world and vast oil palm plantation, running sheep farms as a source of protein would certainly be much better. With an area of ​​​​palm oil plantations reaching more than 15 million hectares, the potential for meat production from sheep is also huge.

Opportunity to Export Animal Feed Protein Sources to Europe

Meat and milk are sources of protein for human obtained from animals, especially ruminants, then meat and eggs from poultry and meat from fish. Availability of sufficient animal protein is needed. Protein deficiency will be bad for health. The livestock industry plays an important role for the adequacy of animal protein today. To produce animal protein in the form of meat and milk, a protein source, namely vegetable protein, is needed in the feed source for the ruminant livestock. Gliricidia and calliandra leaves from energy plantations are a source of protein for the ruminants (sheep, goats and cows). The development of energy plantations should also encourage the livestock industry. This is important for the makers or entrepreneurs of the energy plantation to understand.

Learning from European conditions, according to a study conducted by FEFAC (European Feed Manufacturers' Federation), there is a protein deficit condition in the feed industry sector in Europe and for that they have made a number of efforts to obtain environmentally friendly feed protein sources and sustainable. Deficit is a condition where the consumption or use of protein for the feed has exceeded its production. This means that European production in the form of protein sources for animal feed is still far from its needs so that imports cannot be avoided as a result. Although it is estimated that they will not be able to replace 100% of feed protein sources by one mean alone, which as long as most are imported but reducing this dependence with local production of feed protein would be very helpful. Another motivation is to reduce dependence on protein sources from transgenic materials (GMOs), namely soybean.

Their first effort was the use of PAP (processed animal protein). The use of PAP is indeed high in nutrition, and the source of PAP for the feed is chicken and pork. Although a rule has been made that chicken PAP is not allowed to feed chickens and pork PAP is not allowed to feed pigs plus a tool to detect it, in practice this is difficult to be implemented. This is because feed mills that operate are generally multi-purpose feed so that it can be used for various types of livestock. Very few feed mills make specialty feeds. In fact, if it occurs, for example, PAP chickens for chicken feed and PAP pigs for pig feed, then a disease may occur in the livestock. An example is in the case of mammalian meat and bone meal (MBM). In 1996 with the crisis of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) because it was related to feeding from MBM for ruminant feed. The BSE-infected meat causes Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans, which poses a high risk to the human food chain. After the epidemic spread, the use of MBM in animal feed was banned. This regulation causes a high dependence on imported raw materials such as soybean meal for the continuity of the supply of meat, milk and eggs.

The second effort is protein production from insect farming. Although it can be done and a number of insect species have also been approved, the fact is that currently there are very few insect farms there, so it will still take a long time to produce sufficient volumes as a source of protein in animal feed. The source of protein from these insects is mainly for fish feed. The third effort from energy plantations is from rapeseed trees. Rapeseed meal is another source of vegetable protein. But the availability of rapeseed meal depends on European biofuel policy. Canola oil is the raw material for biodiesel in Europe. The European biofuel policy is contained in the Renewable Energy Directive 2020-2030 where the contribution of biofuels from plants for the target use in the transportation sector is up to a maximum of 7%.

The fourth effort from the rejected and expired products of the food industry. The rejected and expired products of the food industry it’s mean from the food and food ingredients industries, such as the biscuit industry, instant noodles, chocolate bars, pasta and so on. But what is meant is not food waste from restaurants, or catering. EFFPA, the European Former Foodstuff Processing Association estimates that in the European Union around 3.5 million tons of food waste is processed into animal feed every year. The European Union encourages the use of rejected and expired food, including issuing guidelines to reduce food waste to become feed, because it is not fit for human consumption. They have also discussed protein sources from micro algae or single-celled plants, but they are not a priority at this time due to quality and some limitations. 

The importance of realizing the potential as well as improving the vision for optimizing the energy plantation. GMO problems, for example, the use of gliricidia leaves can be the solution, for more details read here. “Quality protein” is important because not all proteins are equal. Several parameters for protein quality are the amino acid profile and the absence of anti-nutritional substances. For example, soybean meal has high scores for all protein quality parameters including palatability, digestibility and safety. A case that can also be used as a reference, in 2007 there was a withdrawal of pet food because it was contaminated with melamine and cyanuric acid (which is high in nitrogen content and identified as crude protein) in protein elements that cause kidney failure. 

The use of nitrogen from the above chemical is also carried out in agricultural products and has also led to the withdrawal of agricultural products from China in South Africa, the European Union and the United States. Even America ordered the USDA to inspect all agricultural products from China. In 2008 and 2009 China focused on eliminating the problem of counterfeiting or mixing and the effects of the crisis. In 2010 a revised version of the feed and feed additive regulations was published to further ensure quality and safety. Even though China is the largest feed producer in the world, the need for feed raw materials still relies on imports, especially flour/soybean meal to support food needs in the form of meat, milk and eggs for around 1.3 billion people.

From a number of efforts by the European Union to plan for self-sufficiency in feed protein sources, it turns out that the source of protein from rapeseed energy plantataions has become a European priority at this time. Meanwhile, with Indonesia's condition which has a large area of land, there are many energy plantations that can be created, even the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has planned 12.7 million hectares for energy plantations as an effort to support the cofiring program at coal power plants in Indonesia more detail read here. Energy plantation by-products will also be abundant. The production of this leaf can be used as an export commodity to Europe, because the need is large. Animal feed production in Europe is estimated at 160 million tons per year or 16% of the world with 5000 units of feed factories. With the consumption of protein in the feed in the range of 30%, the need will reach 48 million tons. When the domestic feed industry has not been able to absorb it, export is the best choice.

 

Ruminant is herbivore so that their diet comes from plants, the case of MBM in Europe can be a valuable lesson that feeding from mammals actually creates new problems. Moreover, if the food category is najis, then the livestock will become jalalah which are prohibited (haram) to be consumed. Meanwhile, the case of mixing with hazardous chemicals that occurred in China with melamine and cyanuric acid is only to trick the protein content so that it looks high and is also harmful to the health of the human body. Islam is very concerned about food or food issues, even in the Qur'an Letter of 'Abasa: 24, Allah commands humans to pay attention to their food. The food that enters our stomach must be halal and thoyyib (good). Foods that contain harmful substances that can poison the body are not thoyyib foods. And one of the consequences of haram (prohibited) food is a barrier to prayer being answered.