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Butterfly Farming in Papua New Guinea – Part 2 of 2
| By pinoyfarmer | July 31, 2007 | 
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History and Government Policy
Soon after Europeans discovered New Guinea’s remarkable insect fauna around the turn of the century, collectors began arriving, and they have been coming ever since. Many were reputable professional or amateur scientists, gathering modest numbers of specimens for study and for museums, including Papua New Guinea’s own national collection. Others, however, were plunderers who carried away large numbers of rare butterflies, giving little or no compensation to the local people and showing no concern for survival of the species.
In 1966 the Papua New Guinea government responded to excessive collecting by designating seven rare birdwing butterflies as protected species. It became illegal to collect these huge, colorful birdwings, and strong measures were instituted – fines for nationals, deportation of expatriates – to halt black market trade.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s commercial collecting of the other butterfly species continued piecemeal and unsupervised. Income was erratic, and expatriate dealers often paid their Papua New Guinean suppliers only a few cents for specimens that retailed for several hundred dollars in Europe and Japan.
The Insect Farming and Trading Agency
When Papua New Guinea achieved independence in 1975, the new government decreed that only nationals should profit from the country’s butterfly resource. Since that time only Papua New Guineans have been able to export butterfly specimens (nonprotected species) for profit.
In 1978, to guarantee Papua New Guineans fair prices and stable sales, a marketing agency was established. Its purpose was to protect the resource, to foster butterfly farming, and to ensure a high-quality export product.
Modest in its beginnings, the Insect Farming and Trading Agency (IFTA) was organized by Angus Hutton, a former tea planter and amateur lepidopterist. The business side of the agency was later developed by Peter Clark, who had worked with Hutton. Identification and production of food plants was advanced by Michael Parsons, Robert Pyle, and others.
IFTA provides a market for those Papua New Guinea nationals who farm and collect butterflies and other insects. The agency allows them to obtain fair and fixed prices, maintains quality control, and ensures that current data accompanies all specimens. It also pools the insects from many sources and fills large orders from overseas dealers.
Of the butterflies IFTA exports, about 30 percent are from village farms and 70 percent are collected in the field. However, more than 50 percent of the revenue is made up of the farmed butterflies because of their better quality.
Quality Control
The agency strives to sell only highest-quality insects; it rejects many butterflies as substandard. Most specimens are sold as named subspecies and to identify and name them requires much skill. Staff members have been specially trained to do this. (To a large extent, the area of origin, particularly in the case of the offshore islands, defines the subspecies concerned.) Locality data, usually consisting of village, province, and month and year of collecting or emergence, is affixed to all butterfly envelopes before they are pooled at the agency.
IFTA stores its collection by species, in simple wooden boxes kept in cupboards lit from below (to lure potential pests away from the insects and to warm the cupboards and prevent mold).
Marketing
The agency makes up orders and dispatches them (with the required export permits) to customers “on trust.” Although this is open to abuse, most buyers pay promptly and the system is easy and convenient. Careful records are kept of all suppliers, customers, and species in stock.
At the time of the panel’s visit, about 80 percent of the agency’s business consisted of responding to requests from dealers. However, less than 10 percent of the orders received from all sources could be filled. Some requests were too small and others too specialized; in some cases the agency simply didn’t have the specimens on hand (for example, a request for all the subspecies of a given butterfly). Furthermore, the agency has neither the office staff nor space to cope with every order in a business whose volume is almost doubling every two years.
Field Extension
Wildlife extension officers periodically visit clients and new villages to sustain or develop enthusiasm for insect farming. They explain and demonstrate the procedures of butterfly farming and collecting and teach potential farmers how to recognize a valuable species in each of its life stages. Above all, they demonstrate how to prepare specimens for sale. This is because it is often difficult to convince farmers of the need for extreme care and delicacy in handling, and many inexperienced farmers send in bruised or hopelessly damaged specimens. Although about 500 villagers were farming butterflies at the time of the panel’s visit, fewer than 50 were supplying good material regularly.
These contacts are also important because the butterfly farmers easily become discouraged if no interest is shown in their work. In the Papua New Guinea countryside there is often little need for cash; people can obtain all their food, clothes, shelter, and resources from their gardens or from the bush. Money received from one shipment of butterflies may last a subsistence farmer for months, making it difficult for the agency to sustain his interest in providing regular shipments.
The agency’s extension officers have initiated a number of butterfly farming projects at primary, secondary, and vocational schools. These projects have proved most successful. Apart from the practical education they give students, they provide early insight into one of Papua New Guinea’s most useful resources. Several vocational schools also provide training in mounting butterflies and beetles as souvenirs for tourists, as well as in the construction of hatching cages and solar driers. Beautiful wooden cabinets to hold butterflies have also been made by some teenage students.
Research and Monitoring
In addition to teaching Papua New Guineans to collect and farm insects, IFTA promotes research both to conserve species and to make them available in quantity. Success has already been achieved in farming the common birdwing butterflies by planting large numbers of the Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia tagala) vines that they feed on.
The agency’s staff includes an ecologist, indicating the importance of the scientific basis for conservation in this project. The ecologist is at hand to conduct research on life histories, farming methods, and management measures for rare species.
IFTA staff are now identifying new food plants that will permit more species to be farmed. Research into the life histories of many butterflies with economic potential is well under way, so that an increasing number of species will become “farmable” and will be available in future in perfect ex pupa condition.
The sources of all specimens received by IFTA are recorded on a map so that a butterfly’s range and rarity or abundance can be assessed and conservation measures implemented where necessary. In this way, even insects too damaged for sale at least have value to conservation efforts. All specimens of unusual scientific interest are lodged in the national insect collection for future study.
Operating a Butterfly Farm
Planting the Farm
The key to farming butterflies is to establish a garden of the plants the various species need for their life cycles. The ideal farm area is about 0.2 hectares. This is spacious enough for growing food plants for adults and larvae and small enough to keep the plants watered, weeded, pruned, and generally well tended. Such a farm can contain about 500 vines, grown like bean plants on poles or shade trees.
It is important to surround the site with a thick hedge of hibiscus, bougainvillea, ixora, poinsettia, or other nectar-bearing plants whose flowers attract adult butterflies and encourage them to remain in the area. The hedges also keep out pigs and other livestock that may damage the leafy plants inside the farm.
A good way to start a farm is to establish it in a vegetable garden. (Papua New Guinea butterfly farmers often plant butterfly vines between their rows of sweet potato or tarot) By the time the vegetables are ready to harvest, the area already has some thriving butterfly food plants and probably some winged livestock as well.
One of the most successful butterfly food plants in Papua New Guinea is Aristolochia tagala, a vine on which the larvae of more common birdwing butterflies feed. Another is Evodea – a food plant of the large blue ulysses swallowtail and many colorful weevils.
Shade trees also can be food plants for butterflies other than birdwings and for beetles or weevils. Examples are species of Annona (such as soursop), Citrus (such as lemon), Cerbera, and Graptophyllum. Wallace’s Longhorn Beetle feeds on breadfruit (Artocarpus communis).
Normally, one area of the farm is kept aside for growing seeds or cuttings. (IFTA sells seed of some suitable species.) In this nursery the butterfly food plants are watered and cared for, and unhealthy ones are easily spotted and weeded out.
Stylized diagram of a butterfly farm
A Hedge of hibiscus, ixora, and poinsettia to keep pigs out and provide nectar.
B Fruits trees (such as lemon).
C The aristolochia vine grown on the branches of others trees (such as leucaena), to feed caterpillar larvae.
D Nursery area.
E A hut for tools.
(Diagram courtesy IFTA, Bulolo)
The Life Cycle
Normally, each butterfly species has a preferred food plant for its larvae. After the female has mated she searches for the correct plant and lays her eggs on or near it. In a few days the eggs hatch, and the young caterpillars usually eat their own eggshells and begin feeding on the softer leaves and shoots of the food plant.
As they grow, the caterpillars shed their skins. Each molt is called an instar, and five instars occur before a larva is big enough to pupate. Pupation is a resting stage during which the adult butterfly develops inside the hard, protective chrysalis. For pupation the larva selects the underside of a stem or leaf to protect it from rain and predators.
After 10 days to 3 weeks, depending on the type of butterfly, the pupal case splits open and the adult insect emerges. This usually occurs before 9 o’clock in the morning. The freshly emerged adult then takes from 3 to 4 hours to expand and dry its wings before flying off to feed on nectar and to search for a mate to begin the life cycle once again.
Harvesting
Once the farm is well established, pupae can be collected daily. Ideally, about 50 percent should be left or released. At least as many females as males should be released. Pupae that are too high to reach are usually left to emerge naturally and repopulate the farm. Others are left because they are not quite perfect.
The farmer can usually see that emergence will occur on the next day, since the pupa becomes darker in color as the adult wing and body colors develop. He then plucks off the stem or leaf to which the pupa is attached. (The soft, new pupae are not touched because this damages the adult.)
He pins the leaf to a board or puts it in a net or in a small cage. Often these are kept inside to protect the pupae against pests and large predators. However, some farmers construct small houses out of bush materials to hold pupae ready for hatching. Others keep their pupae in the open and count on being able to collect the adults before they have flown away.
Care is taken to protect the specimens from ants and rats. For example, the legs of the cage are placed in bowls of water to deter ants from climbing up. The pupae are sprayed with water 2-3 times a week to speed up the hatching process and to prevent them from drying out. (Only a light spray is used; otherwise the pupa develop mold.)
The pupae are best kept in a shady place so the butterflies will remain calm after hatching and will not flap and damage their wings.
Processing
When the newly emerged butterfly has completely dried its wings, it is carefully caught by the thorax and injected with a small amount of a killing agent such as ethyl acetate or boiling water.
Small butterflies are particularly easily damaged if handled, so they are placed for about 10 minutes in a killing jar containing cotton (cotton wool) soaked with a little ethyl acetate. A layer of cardboard is placed above the cotton so that the butterflies are not stained by the solvent.
The farmer places the dead butterflies in paper envelopes, being careful at all times not to touch or damage the wings. The envelopes are easily made from grease-proof paper, which the agency supplies on request.
To ensure that the butterflies will not mold, they are placed on a black plastic tray and dried in the sun, in their papers, for about 4 days. During this time they are protected from pests such as ants, and the drying trays have a screen on top to prevent the envelopes from blowing away or from being rained on.
Once properly dried, the insects, still in their envelopes, are stored in boxes, preferably airtight to prevent condensation and molding. When enough specimens have been collected, the villager packs them carefully in strong cardboard boxes (which the agency also supplies) with cotton or kapok. A few naphthalene crystals are added to keep away pests, and the box is wrapped and sent to Bulolo.
Application to Other Nations
As noted, the essence of the Papua New Guinea approach is the cultivation of food plants that the butterflies need to complete their life cycles. This is a process that could be replicated elsewhere, and the potential for butterfly farming exists in many countries. In fact, although Papua New Guinea is rich in butterfly species – some 700 of them – it is not unusually so. Other countries also have large numbers of species. There are, for instance 2,500 species known in Costa Rica.
There are some 14,000 species of true butterflies in the world. Although there is possible competition, many countries have no overlap in species at all. As collectors and specialists usually want butterflies from many different parts of the world, the likely competition among countries exporting farmed or wild-caught butterflies is minimal.
Butterflies are supplied to the trade from nearly every part of the world. But because they are most diverse in the tropics, it is likely that the best chance for success in farming them lies there. However, some temperate countries also have an abundance of particular species, and in Europe, the United States, and Japan, butterfly farming is already established on a small scale. This is mainly because many collectors like to rear their own material and they purchase eggs, caterpillars, or chrysalids instead of killed adults. Many dealers in these countries supply a few tropical species that are easy to rear, such as the orchard swallowtail (Papilio aegeus). However, this trade is generally low in volume and value, and temperate-zone butterfly farms are little more than a sideline to normal dealerships.
Some general comments follow on the potential of butterfly farming in various parts of the world.
· Temperate regions of the Old World (Palaearctic Realm). East palaearctic species are in great demand internationally and obtainable with great difficulty. China, in particular, has species of both Parnassius and Papilio that might be farmed. However, all Parnassius species are montane to some degree and none has been farmed yet. Eurasian arctic satyrids, lesser fritillaries, and sulphurs are also in great commercial demand and could perhaps be farmed. Swallowtails are few and are frequently protected.
· Tropical Africa and associated islands (Afrotropical Region). The potential for butterfly farming has not yet been considered in Africa, although the diversity of desirable species is great and the potential market extensive. This area has important swallowtails and Charaxes species (Nymphalidae), but so far as is known, no farming enterprises exist. Experimental or trial farms for butterflies are needed in different parts of Africa.
· Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asian tropics (Oriental Realm). Silk moths, such as Bombyx mori, are commercially farmed in Asia, and butterfly farming would seem to be a natural extension of this. Many Asian butterflies are supplied to dealers, especially from Taiwan and the Philippines, but there is little farming. A very large trade originates in Malaysia, especially for Rajah Brooke’s birdwing (Trogonoptera brookiana). Farming is reputed to take place, but most specimens are actually collected. Desirable species of swallowtails, including the black and gold birdwings (Troides species), occur throughout the region. Species belonging to the families Nymphalidae and Pieridae are good candidates for farming, as they are in much demand from dealers.
· Australia, New Guinea, and associated islands to the west (Australasian Realm). Australia is not rich in butterflies, but it has some important endemic species. At least one “farm” exists in Australia, but this appears to be an offshoot of a normal dealership, which rears a few local species to supply at early stages to collectors. Farming is to be encouraged here.
New Guinea’s most coveted butterflies, which it shares with Irian Jaya, are the Ornithoptera birdwings. But almost equally desired by collectors and specialists are the Troides birdwings, concentrated to the west of New Guinea.
· Temperate regions of the Americas (Nearctic Realm). There is a considerable trade in New World butterflies from nearly every family (few Lycaenidae and Hesperiidae), but almost all are caught in the wild. There is a strong market for far-northern species (Boloria, Colias, Erebia, Oenesis). Farming these might be possible among Canadian and Alaskan Indian or Eskimo groups.
· Tropical regions of the Americas (Neotropical Realm). This is a likely area for the development of butterfly farming, particularly as its species are completely different from those of the tropics elsewhere. The Morpho and Agrias species of South America are much desired by collectors. It is possible that some of the highly prized morpho butterflies are already farmed (as the law, in fact, requires), but evidence is conflicting, and most biologists believe that the major supply of specimens is from wild populations. Other groups that lend themselves to farming include the swallowtails, nymphalids (including Agrias), and certain members of the family Satyridae. There are large fauna of Riodinidae and Lycaenidae that are potentially suitable for farming.
A dealer in preserved butterflies has recently set up business in the Dominican Republic, and butterfly farms have been established in Costa Rica.
· General. Butterflies in the family Riodinidae and, especially, Lycaenidae seem to be a neglected resource. Many species are relatively small but brightly colored. A major difficulty is that many Lycaenidae have to live with ants for part of their lives and this complicates their rearing.
Butterfly Parks
Some regions with tourist industries are showing interest in establishing “butterfly zoos” or “butterfly jungles.” These displays have live butterflies (usually farmed or reared) in artificial habitats resembling the natural ones. Some species, such as the orchard swallowtail (Papilio aegeus), respond well to such conditions. One British dealer has a “tropical jungle” in an enclosed environment in which both temperature and atmospheric pressure are regulated. A large British butterfly zoo has been established and a smaller one has been proposed. The New York Zoological Society is developing a butterfly component in its Wild Asia Hall at the Bronx Zoo, and San Francisco, Portland, Cincinnati, and Tokyo all have thriving insect zoos. Also, the Colombo Zoo in Sri Lanka has a live display and a successful program of butterfly rearing. Similar enterprise could be shown in other places with tourist industries.
Starting a Butterfly Farm
Butterfly farming is initially an ecological and botanical challenge. One must first observe, identify, and propagate the plants that the various species use for food.
Success for butterfly farmers rests on their choosing commercially attractive species. Unfortunately, ecological details of the life histories of suitable species are known in only a few cases. The prospective farmer will be largely on his own and must first develop this information.
Many of the most desirable species are native to primary tropical forests, and they may need protection because of the rate at which their habitat is being destroyed.
Any program to commercially exploit butterflies and other insects must either bypass the rarest, most restricted, and slowest reproducing species; farm them cautiously with a high percentage of adults released; or take them with the greatest of care. Further, there must be adequate habitat protection both in the natural state and in mixed land uses (rather than just agricultural croplands) to support the insects and furnish a continuing supply.
Some competition could occur if live butterflies were exported between countries and used to establish farming enterprises. In general, however, butterflies are easier to farm in their native habitats.
Related Posts:
Butterfly Farming in Papua New Guinea – Part 1
Source: Butterfly Farming in Papua New Guinea (BOSTID, 1983, 28 p.)
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