Contents planning your project 12 where to put insect plants on your land 13 introduction 4 which plants to grow 13 the international insect trade 4 how should you start growing your plants? 14 what should happen if you have grown the right plants? 14 income 5 taking caterpillars from your plants to hatch 14 effort 5 storing pupae until they hatch 15 hatching butterfly pupa 16 buying and selling insects 6 killing a fresh adult butterfly 17 why do you need these middlemen NGOs? 6 why start insect ranching now? 6 collecting insects 18 legal issues 7 finding butterflies 18 finding beetles 19 how insects live 8 finding stick insects 19 how butterflies live 8 making a net 20 butterfly life cycle 9 using your net 22 how other insects live 9 donʼt kill damaged butterflies 22 insect life cycle 10 killing and storing insects 23 locations: what you find where 10 killing butterflies 23 killing beetles 23 ranching and collecting 11 killing stick insects 24 2 preparing stick insects after they die 24 running your insect business 34 marketing 34 drying and storing 27 business knowledge 34 how to store butterflies after drying 27 managing risks 34 storing beetles 28 keeping records 35 completely drying butterflies 28 completely drying beetles 28 donʼt forget 36 packing and shipping your insects 30 insect and plant identification sheets 37 how to prepare your insects for shipping 30 insects of papua new guinea 38 packing your insects to send in the post 30 butterflies of the bismarck group and manus 39 keeping your insects safe in the mail 31 insects of the bismarck group and manus 40 insect quality 32 insects of bougainville 41 butterfly quality 32 beetles of the highlands 42 beetle quality 32 butterflies of the highlands 43 insect damage 32 butterflies of the lowlands 44 finding undamaged insects 32 insects of the lowlands 45 insects of the south east 46 how IFTA and WEI work 33 insects of the sepik region 47 problems and questions 33 insect food and attractant plants of papua new guinea 48 3 introduction the international insect trade The people that want to buy PNG insects and butterflies do so for many reasons, here are just a few of them: Butterfly ranching and the collection of insects is a great way to earn an 1. Insect collectors overseas want to buy butterflies and beetles from income without impacting your environment and damaging your land. It PNG because they collect them like we might collect stamps. It is a may sound strange but people all over the world are interested in Papua game for them to find one of each kind of insect they know about, New Guinea’s insects and they want to buy them. These people have a and to find things their friends don’t have. special interest in insects from PNG because many PNG insects don’t live 2. Scientists and museums need our insects for two main reasons: anywhere else, also some of the most fascinating and beautiful insects in the world come from here. a) Research on insects helps scientists learn many different things about how insects live, but also about how humans live, and how we The world’s largest butterfly, the Alexandra birdwing, is found only in all share the same environment. This kind of work helps you and me Oro Province. It is currently illegal for anyone to sell this butterfly. The as well because the new information scientists find out can help us world’s second largest butterfly, the Goliath birdwing, is also found in take better care of PNG. many highland areas of PNG. It is legal to sell this butterfly as long as it b) Displaying insects in museums people in other countries can also is ranched. You will find out about ranching by reading this manual. It is benefit from all this knowledge and learn about this country. important to not just read this manual but to look through it many more 3. Tourists who visit PNG like to take things back to their place to times as you start your ranching or collecting business. remember their trip. PNG is famous for its butterflies and insects, taking some examples home is a popular way to remember their PNG is so special for insects because it has the right climate for many own visit and show their friends at home. kinds of insect to breed. It has more forest and ‘big bush’ than countries which have cut down their trees to sell or cleared their land to build new 4. People who make insect-related products as a business often places or make new work. Lots of insects as well as many birds and buy insects from PNG because they are so beautiful and interesting. animals can only live in big bush and forest areas. PNG will have plenty For those people who cannot visit PNG and take home insects of these wild resources as long as we look after our environment. themselves, these businesses put PNG insects into attractive frames, boxes, key-rings and decorations for people in the rest of the world to decorate their homes. 4 income effort Ranching and collecting butterflies will not make you rich or a big man, You really don’t need very much money to start making money from but it will enable you to make money in your own time. Some people insects. However you do need to be prepared to make an effort, because earn enough to make this their main income. Others use insect ranching the harder you work, the more money you will make. You do not need to and collecting to add extra money to their main income which may be buy very much at all because you can find most of the things you need from vanilla or coffee growing. It depends on your situation but an insect very easily. business will give you and your family some extra money. Here are the most important things you will need to start an insect The prices of insects and butterflies are very wide ranging. Some species business: are worth only 10t whereas others are worth K10. Some special birdwing • Insect food plants – which you can find in your area butterflies which are very rare have a bigger price yet. To some extent • Paper – to make envelopes to put your butterflies in your insect income will depend on what species you have on your land. • A strong box – to pack your insects safely It is important to remember that prices also go up and down. Insects are • Stamps – to post your insects to IFTA, WEI or another agent traded on the international market just like coffee, cocoa and vanilla. This • Some knowledge – which you will get from this manual means that the prices for insects will change in the same way that coffee, cocoa and vanilla prices change. Insect and butterfly prices change for many reasons, for example: • If too many of one kind of is sold the price goes down. • If it is hard to find many of one kind and someone wants to buy them, the price goes up. • If you have a new kind of insect that has not been sold before, the price will start low, but if it sells well to people overseas, the price will go up. • If people overseas don’t like a particular insect, or it is not marketable, the price will go down. 5 collect. Also they help the government manage exports and not break buying and selling insects international laws which protect rare species. Until the late 1970s there were no organizations in Papua New Guinea why do you need these middlemen NGOs? that bought and sold insects. Instead this trade was run by individual and Other people will sometimes buy your insects, and you can sell direct to mostly expatriate business men. The government thought that this wasn’t tourists who come to PNG. But if you sell to people and they try to take fair, as not enough of the profits from the buying and selling of insects your insects overseas without a permit from the government, they are were going back to rural Papua New Guineans. This is the reason why breaking the law. the Insect Farming and Trading Agency was set up by the Division of Wildlife. IFTA and WEI help to make sure people in PNG, and people who buy your insects overseas, don’t damage the environment here or take too many of In the mid 1990s the Department of Environment and Conservation one species so there are none left here to breed. decided that IFTA needed help in buying and selling insects. In order for this to happen, it allowed other organizations to start trading. You can only sell your insects directly to tourists if they come to your place, and you find them. This means you will probably not sell many The insect trading organizations that are currently allowed to trade insects and not make much money. IFTA and WEI know lots of people who buy are the Insect Farming and Trading Agency (Bulolo), the Wau Ecology insects in other countries, and new customers can contact IFTA and WEI Institute (Wau), OISCA (Rabaul) and WEMAX (Western Highlands). Of if they want to buy insects from PNG. This means they can sell many these four, the main organizations are IFTA and WEI. more insects than you can on your own. IFTA and WEI are here to make the insect trade fairer for you and to help If you sell your insects yourself, maybe you will sell 20 in a year.