C. SEKHAR¹ , P. Pradeep Kumar² , A. Vidhyavathi³ , S. Sivakumar⁴

1 Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, India
2 Forest College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Mettupalayam-641301, India
3 Associate Professor, Department of Agriculture Economics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, India
4 Research Scholar in Agricultural Statistics, Department of Physical Sciences and Information Technology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-641003, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Horticulture, 2018, Vol. 8, No. 15   doi: 10.5376/ijh.2018.08.0015
Received: 10 May, 2018    Accepted: 20 Jun., 2018    Published: 30 Aug., 2018

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Sekhar C., Kumar P.P., Vidhyavathi A., and Sivakumar S., 2018, Economic and environmental considerations in collection and processing of winged termites as food in Tamil Nadu, India, International Journal of Horticulture, 8(15): 171-183 (doi: 10.5376/ijh.2018.08.0015)

 

There are several species under the head “Winged Termites”. In the entomologists’ Point of view, they are asset destroying agents and in the biological sense, they are friends of farmers and in the consumption point of view, they are highly nutritious and capable of curing certain contagious diseases. Among the many species of winged termites, few species are widely collected by tribes and the rural people during the season and they process and value add the termites along with certain ingredients and make a tasty and enjoyable food products. The popular species among the winged termite is Odontotermes formosanus which is a rich source of protein, thus forming an important diet for pregnant women and children in the rural settings. Though many south Indian tribes are engaged in the collection process, other rural communities are also greatly involved in collecting, preserving and value adding the produce of termites. This paper presents the method of collection, preservation and value addition methods and distribution for consumption both in the rural and semi urban environments.

Termites; Winged termites; Collection of termites; Processing of termites; Value addition of termites; Termites as food