Arnold van Huis
Tropical entomologist
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arnoldvanhuis@gmail.com
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arnold.vanhuis@wur.nl
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31-6-3819-1490
I am Arnold van Huis, a tropical entomologist whose life and work have taken me across Africa and into the world of edible insects, agricultural research and cultural history.
On this website, I share personal memories, travel stories and insights from a career spent working with insects, farmers, researchers and communities.
Read the latest story
What Do a Spider, an Antlion and Football Have in Common?
The Secret Behind Cameroon’s Football Success. Read here the full story

Red underlined parts are clickable
Insects as food
My work on edible insects became a global game changer, highlighted by the publication of an Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) book and the organization of an international conference.
Insects in African culture
In 1995 and 2000 I visited 27 countries in Africa and interviewed 250 people about the cultural aspect of insects as food, toy or medicine, and in stories, songs, etc., etc.
A number of articles have been published. I provide some highlights.
Research
This concerns a number of projects such as:
- Biocontrol of stemborers in Kenya
- Biocontrol leaffolders in the Phillippines
- IPM farmer field schools in Zanzibar
- Managing bruchid pests in Benin
- IPM in maize in Nicaragua
- Desert locust control Africa
- Bruchid control using an egg parasitoid
- Research of research: The CoS project
Travel stories from Africa
As a student I spent one year in Africa 1. Côte d’ Ivoire; 2. 6000 km accross Africa during Two months hitch hiking from Côte d’ Ivoire to Kenya; 3. Kenya: safaris and termite research.
How humans destroy agriculture in Sudan.
The plane crash that changed my life.
Stories of my sabbatical dealing with insects and culture.
Important entomologists.
For all pictures used on this website, you can find the attributions here.
This website is a personal account of events experienced during my professional career. It reflects my recollections, impressions, and opinions based on events that occurred many years ago. Human memory is imperfect, and conversations are reconstructed to the best of my recollection. Where appropriate, names and identifying details have been omitted or altered to protect the privacy of individuals. The purpose of these accounts is not to criticize particular persons or organizations but to illustrate broader ethical and professional dilemmas that can arise in international development and scientific work.
