The Sunday Mail
Under the Baobab Tree with Sifelani Tsiko
The sweet and sticky business of the global honey industry contributes over US$200 billion to the global economy through crop pollination and production of honey, beeswax and other bee products.
And, what is of major concern, is that out of this estimated value of the global honey industry, Africa only gets a teaspoon of the value. The just-ended fourth edition of the ApiExpo Africa, the largest pan-African honey exhibition which was held here in Harare, highlighted the importance of honeybee industry on the continent where the majority of people live in humiliating poverty.
It is worrying that Africa has failed to tap on this important and strategic industry to generate food, employment, environmental conservation and diversification of the export base.
The potential of the honeybee industry in Africa is frighteningly huge. Uganda, for example, has a booming honeybee industry thanks to the promotion of private sector, entrepreneurship and support for production and marketing of bee products.
Even though statistics are not reliable, Uganda’s bee-keeping industry experts say the country produces more than 12 000 metric tonnes of honey tradeable annually which generates US$38,4 million.
Since 2005 Uganda was listed as one of the Third World countries to export honey to the EU.
In addition, the country produces 720 metric tonnes of bees wax 720 annually generating US$5,2 million while it also earns more than US$320 000 from the production of 5 000 litres of raw propolis.
The production of just 1kg of bee venom in the last eight months has earned Uganda US$28 000 while a further US$900 000 was earned from the production of 150 000 litres of honey wine.
The country benefits immensely from production of lotions and creams, shoe and furniture polish, as well as from sales of honey products to the baking sector.
“Uganda has the potential to produce 500 000 metric tonnes of honey,” says Alice Kangawe, a Ugandan government official who attended the expo.
“The potential importers of Uganda’s honey in the EU include UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Spain. We need to transform apiculture to increase production and marketing of large quantities of quality hive products.”
She attributes the success of the apiculture industry to establishment of the Code of Practice for apiary management and processing and Standards Operating Procedures, training and extension services, setting up of 48 basic demonstration centres for honey and beeswax and the Draft National Apiculture Policy which seeks to promote a vibrant, profitable and sustainable apiculture enterprise.
In the last decade, Zimbabwe registered a significant increase in the number of bee-keepers and hives. Apiculturalists estimate that Zimbabwe produces 427 000 metric tonnes of honey yearly, generating millions of dollars. Zimbabwe needs about 447 000 metric tonnes of honey a year and has imported nearly 20 000 metric tonnes over the past four years, on average. The country’s economic blueprint, Zim-Asset, has set a target of 500 000 litres of honey to be achieved by 2018. Apiculturalists Smith Nyatsande, Andrew Chitesa and Innocent Shayamano – in a joint paper – argue that it is possible to achieve the target if farmers are properly trained.
They say access to capital and markets were some of the aspects which can lead the farmers to achieve the set target.
ApiTrade chairperson Harun Baiya appealed to governments and development agencies in Africa to put greater emphasis on co-operating with the emerging enterprises which are showing promise of lifting the standards of quality, production, processing and marketing of bee products.
“We should further work to strengthen the existing private sector bee-keepers’ and honey traders’ structures at different levels so that they can mobilise resources to promote bee-keeping and hone trade activities,” he told delegates at the expo.
“These structures are routinely involved in information dissemination, training of farmers and advocacy work by protecting and promoting their interest in the sector.”
The Api Expo Africa 2014 provided stakeholders in the apiculture industry in Africa with a platform to reflect, share knowledge and skills.
It also gave them an opportunity to explore ways of gaining access to markets in and outside Africa and also to be heard.
Despite the huge potential of the industry, there is also a downside.
African bee-keepers still face numerous constraints and challenges which have hampered efforts to spur growth.
Some of the general constraints to honey bee production in Zimbabwe and Africa identified by apiculturalists at the Expo, among others, include:
Bee pests and predators
Use of pesticides and insecticides
Bee burning (harvesting and bush fires)
Low appreciation levels from public about honey bee
Absence of reliable data on the sector
Producer associations – fragmented thus ineffective
Few appropriately skilled local technical trainers
Weak honey-bee value chains
Lack of access to credit
Absence of or weak policy for bee production/health
Inadequate participation of bee-keepers in decision-making process (need for innovation platform)
Inadequate information and monitoring of honey-bee diseases
Lack of appropriate expertise for diagnostics
Lack of quality control measures (residual effect post use of pesticides)
Limited uptake of new technologies in bee-keeping/processing
Poor access to competitive local/international markets
Remoteness of producers
Small volumes of products
Weak value addition
Lack of compliance to international trade conditions (export)
Port health controls inadequate (threat due to mail/internet orders)
Apiculturalists and other stakeholders at the Expo urged African government to enforce legislation on the health of bees, to establish a multi-stakeholder platform (MSP) at a national level and establish codes of practice for producers and processors.
They also recommended the setting up of comprehensive and updated register/database of bee producers/apiaries for ease of monitoring and compliance to set minimum standards. Value chain-based training for players to improve quality assurance and sanitary controls and the establishment of active and passive surveillance programmes was also advocated.
In addition, the delegates called for the support of producers and the improvement of sanitary assurance services for trade purposes as well as the development of SoPs for regulatory and port health staff.
A common and harmonised regional strategy and protocol is necessary so as to co-ordinate disease management, the delegates said.
They also said that improved import and border controls were needed to limit exotic species and dangerous diseases.
Intensive expansion of research, development and monitoring is also critical for the survival of the honeybee industry in Africa.
The Expo attracted 2 000 delegates who included exhibitors of bee products and technologies, exporters, importers, researchers, policy makers, honey trade support networks, NGOs, development partners, international media and other stakeholders.
Participants were drawn from Angola, Botswana, Burundi, China, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt, Europe, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Middle East, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Sudan, Somalia Tanzania, Uganda, US, Zambia and other parts of the world.
There is no doubt that if Africa adopts some of the recommendations made at the just-ended expo, it can increase its share from just a teaspoon to a table spoon or even a shovel of the world’s honeybee business.
