There are increased calls for the use of less conventional animal protein sources like edible insects to feed the fast-growing population of the world. Edible insects are culturally acceptable and their production poses less threat to the environment. However, their consumption is beginning to dwindle due to the influence of Western culture. The study examined some social factors that affect the acceptance of entomophagy among a campus community in Nigeria. A total of 138 respondents were surveyed using a random sampling technique. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U-test, Z-test, Chi-square, Cramér’s statistics and Spearman correlation. The results showed that about 85.51% of the respondents had once tasted edible insects, 88% of them were introduced to entomophagy by family and friends, 60% obtained edible insects through hunting, 60% mostly consume grasshoppers and only about 58% were willing to continue eating edible insects in the future. Gender, religion and tribal affiliations do not influence entomophagy among the respondents. However, social factors like age, education, status, residency period, parents’ education and occupation significantly (P<0.05) affect entomophagy. The younger generation showed propensity to reject entomophagy, while the highly educated showed tendency to continue consuming edible insects. The level of association between entomophagy and these social factors suggests that the attitude to reject entomophagy is probably at its formative stage and proper enlightenment, especially of the younger ones on the benefits of the consumption of edible insects could increase the acceptability of entomophagy among them.
Oriolowo et al. (Sun,) studied this question.