The Sunday Mail
The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Beekeepers’ Association of Zimbabwe (BKAZ)) and ApiTrade Africa, a regional not-for-profit organisation legally registered in Uganda that champions the promotion of African honey and other bee products primarily in Africa and internationally, will be jointly hosting the 4th All-Africa International Honey Exposition, ApiExpo 2014.
This follows Zimbabwe’s successful bid to host ApiExpo Africa 2014 edition in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2012. ApiExpo is a biannual event held to showcase bee products such as honey, bees wax products, propolis, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals from African and other international countries.
ApiExpo Africa 2014 will take place from tomorrow to Saturday the 11th of October 2014 at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC), Rainbow Towers Hotel.
The theme for the expo is “Bee-keeping for economic empowerment in Africa”. The expo aims to showcase Africa’s honey industry by creating awareness on market opportunities, investment opportunities and demonstrate clear relationships between bee-keeping and other industries.
The specific objectives of hosting the expo are to avail new skills, knowledge and technologies used in value addition and bee-keeping to participants at the expo, to improve global market linkages of bee products suppliers, and to promote bee-keeping as a source of employment creation, household income, and enhancer of environmental protection.
The theme for this year’s event was selected after consideration that many people in sub-Saharan Africa are living below the poverty line and that there has been livelihood enhancement in areas that engaged in apiculture as an alternative source of income in additional to traditional agricultural practices.
The Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation’s (Zim-Asset) Value Addition and Beneficiation Cluster also acknowledges the role of apiculture in contributing to poverty reduction, enhanced economic growth and entrench economic stability through agro-processing.
ApiExpo Africa 2014 comprises of several concurrent events which include conferences, exhibitions, back to back meetings, and educational/technical tours taking place at and around the same venue.
This year’s expo is anticipated to bring together about 1 000 delegates including exhibitors, experts, exporters, importers, policy makers, development partners, visitors from Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa, Swaziland, Sudan, Mauritius, Nigeria, Botswana, Europe, China and Pakistan.
Participants will exhibit services and products pertinent to the Apiculture Value Chain including honey, wax and other bee products, inputs and technologies.
The Conference will bring together diverse national, regional, continental and global level researchers, policy makers, honey trade support networks (private, public, NGOs), development partners, international media, and other stakeholders on a single platform to discuss and share knowledge on trade and business related approaches and promote apiculture and how it relates to economic empowerment of the African people.
Special Back to Back meetings will also be conducted to address marketing issues relating to commercial transactions and regulations in the honey bee industry at local, national, regional and international levels.
Institutions, organisations and individuals will present papers at the expo pertinent to the apiculture industry and the theme of the event. Papers will include Technical and Country Situational papers.
Technical papers focus on aspects that promote sharing of knowledge and experiences amongst different stakeholders for the development of the apiculture sector.
Technical papers to be presented were prepared around value addition, bee products trade, markets and rural livelihoods, and bee-keeping practices, disease, threats and challenges.
Country Situation papers are reserved for representatives of National Governments and or National Umbrella Organisations which promote apiculture in Africa.
They provide national perspectives of apiculture development in their respective countries. The papers are intended to inform and stimulate discussions on policy related and programmatic interventions in bee-keeping among African countries.
Organisations are encouraged to bring groups to view exhibits and share information with exhibitors. Schools are encouraged to arrange day visits to HICC as part of a learning experience, while families can enjoy a day out interacting with bee keepers and service providers.
Nb. Official Opening Tomorrow Is Free!!!
For more details on Harare APIEXPO 2014 Contact:
Zimbabwe ApiExpo Africa 2014 Secretariat Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanization and Irrigation Development No. 1 Borrowdale Road, Ngungunyana Building, P. Bag 7701 Causeway, Harare Tel: +263 4 797400-4 Ext 2135, Cell: 0775 631 980
Email: [email protected] and [email protected] Or visit www.beeszimbabwe.org or www.apitradeafrica.org
