Economic Entomology - Beneficial Insects

Beneficial Insects

Honey is perhaps the most economically valuable product from insects. Apiculture is a commercial enterprise in most parts of the world and many forest tribes have been dependent on honey as a major source of nutrition. Honeybees can also act as pollinators of crop species. Many predators and parasitoid insects are encouraged and augmented in modern agriculture.

Silk is extracted from both reared caterpillars as well as from the wild (producing wild silk). Sericulture deals with the techniques for efficient silkworm rearing and silk production. Although new fabric materials have substituted silk in many applications, it continues to be the material of choice for surgical sutures.

Lac was once extracted from scale insects but is now replaced by synthetic substitutes. The dye extracted from cochineal insects was similarly replaced by technological advances.

The idea of insects as human food, entomophagy, has been proposed as a solution to meet the growing demand for food, but has not gained widespread acceptance.