Grasshoppers Will Be Transformed into Flour to Curb Hunger of People in Poor Countries

Students from McGill University have found a unique way to solve the hunger problem in poor countries using flour made of grasshoppers.

The students won a million dollars to breed grasshoppers in developing countries, which would then be turned into flour to that can be used to make bread, soups, sauces, cakes, stews, etc.

The grasshoppers will be caught and washed. They will then be drained, dried and frozen to kill them gently. The insects will be then dried with the help of an oven and then crushed till they turn to the size of wheat grains.

This technique can be used to provide food source to the poor nations for about a year. This will also provide businesses to the farmers.

The students who came up with this idea won the Hult Prize for the year 2013, a social-entrepreneurship award for students presented by former President Bill Clinton. They were also awarded $1 million dollars to turn their  plans into reality.

Around 10,000 colleges and universities took part in this year's challenge "social enterprise that will secure food for undernourished communities and particularly for the 200 million people who live in urban slums" and only six teams made it to the finals.

Around 2.5 billion people consume insects globally, as per the reports of United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.

"This is our chance to empower the next generation and solve some of the world's most pressing issues," Ahmad Ashkar, Founder and CEO of the Hult Prize, said in a Daily Mail report.

"Almost a billion people go hungry every day and without new solutions, food security issues are likely to get worse," Ashkar added.

A team of MBA students, calling themselves Aspire Food Group, which was led by Mohammed Ashour, Shobhita Soor, Zev Thompson, Jesse Pearlstein and Gabe Mott came up with this innovative idea.

They aim at getting grasshoppers from alfalfa fields and handing them over to farmers in Oaxaca, Mexico, along with containers in which they breed these insects, which will be then ground  into nutritious flour later on.

Mexico will be supplied with about 10 tonnes of grasshoppers by March of 2014.