Insect Factory Pty Ltd

17/10/2026

🪲 **BENEFICIAL INSECT OF THE WEEK: The Dung Beetle**

Every cattle post in Botswana has a free clean-up crew, and most of us walk right past it.

Dung beetles roll, bury or tunnel under fresh dung, and that simple habit does a lot of work for the farmer:
🌱 **Feeds the soil** – nutrients from manure are carried underground where plant roots can use them
💧 **Opens up the ground** – their tunnels help rain soak in instead of running off
🪰 **Fewer flies** – dung that's broken up and buried quickly leaves less space for flies to breed
🐄 **Healthier livestock** – burying dung also disrupts the life cycle of some gut worms that re-infect grazing animals
🌾 **Cleaner pastures** – less dung on the surface means more grass your animals will actually eat

Fun fact: some African dung beetles use the Milky Way to keep rolling in a straight line at night! 🌌

**How to protect them:** certain livestock dewormers pass out in the dung and can harm the beetles that land on it. Talk to your vet about products and timing that protect both your herd and your clean-up crew.

That's IPM in action: let nature do the work, and use chemicals carefully and only when needed. 🐜

Have you noticed fewer dung beetles on your farm in recent years? Tell us in the comments 👇

08/10/2026

Found this little visitor this morning 🦋 Is it a friend or a foe?
The honest answer: it depends. Many moths quietly pollinate plants at night. Others, like armyworm and cutworm moths, lay eggs that hatch into caterpillars that can wipe out a field.
That's why at Insect Factory we say: identify first, spray last. Monitoring what's flying around your farm tells you what's coming before the damage starts. 🐜
Spotted moths around your lights lately? Drop a photo below 👇

05/10/2026

🌱 Healthy crops start below the ground.

Last week we visited Mike and the team at Organic Fertiliser Manufacturers Africa, where raw organic material is turned into fertiliser that feeds the soil, not just the plant.

Why does this matter to an insect company? Plants grown in living, well-fed soil are stronger and better able to withstand pest pressure. Heavy chemical inputs can damage soil life and the beneficial insects that protect your crops for free.

Good soil + beneficial insects + fewer chemicals = a farm that works with nature, not against it. That's IPM from the ground up. 🐜

Thanks, Mike and the Organic Fertiliser Manufacturers Africa team, for showing us around! Farmers, what are you feeding your soil this season?
Bantu Farmers Academy Fertilizer Manufacturer Africa Botswana Farmers Association Integrated Farming Botswana Serowe Nature

27/09/2026

Found on a fence post..it's empty!.. because the babies are already out hunting!

26/09/2026

23/09/2026

🐝 Field day with the team today!

We were out with a buzzing colony when one hard-working lady stole the show: a worker bee with big, golden legs. 💛

Those "golden legs" aren't really legs. They're pollen baskets, loaded with pollen she collected from flowers nearby. She packs it on and carries it home to feed the young bees in the hive.

She moved too fast for our cameras 😅 so you'll have to take our word for it. But look closely and you'll spot plenty of her sisters in these photos doing the same job.

Every pollen load tells us there's healthy forage around, and it's a big reason we push for fewer chemical sprays. The flowers these bees visit are the same crops and wild plants our farms depend on. 🌱

👀 Can you spot a bee carrying golden pollen in the pics? Tell us in the comments!

11/09/2026

📖 **OUT NOW: Introduction to Pest and Beneficial Arthropods** 🐞🌿

We're excited to share Prof Graham Hall's new book, covering the pests and beneficial arthropods found in agricultural landscapes right here in Botswana — a practical guide for farmers, students, and anyone working the land.

Get your copy for only **BWP 200**.

📞 Call/WhatsApp +267 77 525 859 to order
👍 Or send us a message here on the page

Let's grow smarter, one beneficial insect at a time. 🌱
Serowe Nature Viva Organica Botswana Farmers Association Bohoco Bohoco INaturalist Botswana Bantu Farmers Academy

05/09/2026

🎤 This week we took the stage at the BoHoCo conference in Serowe, talking biopesticides to a packed room of 100+ growers, researchers and industry stakeholders.

The conversation went beyond the farm — we dug into what biopesticides mean for human health too. Fewer synthetic chemical residues on crops, safer handling for farmworkers, and food systems that don't trade short-term yield for long-term exposure risk. It's the same principle behind everything we do at Insect Factory: work with the ecosystem, not against it — and that includes the people in it.

A full house and some sharp questions from growers thinking hard about what a lower-chemical approach actually looks like in practice. Exactly the kind of conversation we want to keep having.

🌱 Thanks to BoHoCo and everyone who came through in Serowe today.

26/08/2026

🏗️ You can see it in the texture — the crumbly, freshly packed reddish soil climbing up over the older, smoother base. That new build-up is what caught our eye this week.

Termites don't need rain to get busy. They're responding to small shifts in humidity, temperature and pressure that build in the weeks before the rainy season — the same cues our farmers have read from mounds like this for generations.

It's a good reminder of what we do at Insect Factory: reading insect behaviour to make smarter decisions on the farm, before the season even turns.

🐜 Keeping an eye on the mounds near you? Tell us what you're seeing.

28/06/2026

🌱 **Helping Farmers Grow Smarter, Naturally!** 🐝

At **Insect Factory**, we're passionate about supporting sustainable agriculture through practical, environmentally friendly solutions.

Our services include:
🐝 Pollination services to improve crop productivity.
🍯 Bee keeping services and apiary management.
🌾 Integrated Pest Management (IPM) solutions that help farmers protect their crops while reducing reliance on harmful chemicals.

We believe that healthy farms begin with balanced ecosystems, and we're committed to working alongside farmers to achieve productive and sustainable harvests.

Ready to take your farming to the next level? We'd love to work with you.

📞 Contact us today to learn more about our services... 77 525 859


Viva Organica Nature