June 3, 2002	Monday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21,1423

BANGKOK, June 2: Residents of northern and northeastern Thailand have a nutritional edge on people in the rest of the country because of their fondness for eating insects, according to results of an Agriculture Department study published on Sunday.

As many as 194 species of insects are devoured by people in the region, including worms, butterflies, bees, ants, wasps and termites.

The Nation newspaper quoted Dr Ar-ngun Liuwanich, senior entomologist at the Department of Agriculture, as predicting the edible-insect industry would have a bright future as the bug-eating habit spread beyond the Thai north and northeast.

“Villagers there realise the nutritional value of the insects and use them as a protein supplement,” she said. “Edible insects are now becoming so popular that there are farms to increase the production of the favourite ones.”

The government study, funded by the Thailand Research Fund, found that the insect diet of northern and northeastern Thais includes 61 kinds of hard-winged bugs, 11 kinds of soft-winged bugs, 47 kinds of butterflies, 42 kinds of crickets, 16 kinds of bees, ants or wasps, four kinds of dragonflies and grasshoppers and two kinds of termites.—dpa