Family Alliance For Development And Cooperation, Tanzania

Working for sustainable development of the grassroots communities to alleviate poverty and improve standards of living.

Honey is good food for your health.

By keeping bees, you conserve the environment, increasae your agriculture production and also revenue.

BEEKEEPING FOR MICRO AND Small -Scale Enterprise DEVELOPMENT

1.0 Introduction:

Efforts to conserve the environment sustainably would not yield fruit, if the farmers did not perceive a direct physical (cash) benefit from the trees or from tree planting. Bee keeping stands at the forefront of a sustainable environment conservation project in Kagera region. For the serious environmentalist, bee keeping is the lifeblood of environmental conservation. So also FADECO saw this right from the start, that this could be an multifaceted activity with widespread benefits to the community if well managed.

1.1 Long term objective:

To entice(persuade) the community in Karagwe to conserve the environment and to work towards a sustainable utilization of the natural resources.

1.2 Direct and immediate objectives:

• improve food security, health and nutrition standards through utilization of high value, medicinal and nutritious honey
• enhance household revenue through marketing of honey and honey products
• create job and self employment through bee keeping, processing and marketing of honey and honey products, manufacture of bee hives.
• Ignite small and medium scale industries using honey and honey products as raw materials like candle making, batik clothes making, shoe polishes, etc.
• enhance foreign exchange earning through export.

2.0 What is the production potential in Karagwe district:

Karagwe district like neighboring districts of Ngara and Biharamulo, has a very high potential for bee keeping. The existing natural vegetation (if not destroyed) supplemented by the tree planting initiatives going on, is able to produce 12,000 Tones of pure honey in one year. With intensive operations, the amount of honey could double.

Honey is a very nutritious and medicinal product known so by many people in Karagwe and beyond. Besides being used as food, honey is used as medicine and is raw material in many industrial processing.

3.0 Initiatives to promote the bee keeping industry:

A lot of effort has been made by several organizations in the past to train and encourage farmers to get involved in bee keeping activities, given its many potential benefits once successfully done. Their efforts have all been commendable except that, all did not address the issue of marketing, which has affected its expansion.

3.1 The District Rural Development Programme (KDRDP) funded by the Dutch Government has, through the district natural resources offices and Community development offices, supported a number of groups (youths and women) to promote bee keeping by supplying honey processing equipment and harvesting gears.

3.2 CFDP/CHEMA has been supported by MISEREOR a Germany organization, to promote beekeeping not only in Karagwe district, but also in neighboring districts of Ngara and Biharamulo with some success.

3.3 KARADEA through it long standing donors including SIDA, have also supported beekeeping industry in the district for long. KARADEA has formed many beekeeping groups (youths and women) among her beneficiaries.

3.4 FADECO was involved in Nyakasimbi and Rugu ward doing the same thing supported by CARE International in Tanzania between 1995-96.

4.0 Achievements to date:

4.1 Capacity building and awareness creation:

There are many farmers who have attended seminars/ workshops in bee keeping. The level of awareness and general understanding of bee keeping is appreciated by many. What is lacking is may be the transformation to modern bee keeping and quality techniques in harvesting the honey using improved methods.

a) Many groups and individuals have established own apiary projects with traditional beehives ranging from 1 - 100 hives.
b) The rate of tree planting and conservation of natural forests has improved. This is witnessed by the number of groups/ individuals involved in tree nurseries management, and the actual number of tree nurseries.
c) The rate of bush fires, which used to be a common phenomenon, seems to be reducing (compared to former times).

4.2 Availability of Honey and bees wax:

During the period 1997-99, CHEMA was able to collect between 3- 7 Tons of crude honey from Karagwe beekeepers alone. This was a very small portion compared to the amount of honey that was reported but could not be collected. CHEMA purchased only this amount because they are not a trading company (they did not have capital set apart for purchasing honey), and nor did they have established infrastructures to handle the honey (personnel, stores for honey and purification plant) and a marketing plan.

More groups and individuals have invested in beekeeping with hope that they can get out the benefits as narrated to them, especially as a source of extra income in addition to environmental conservation in face of declining coffee prices.

4.3 Market for honey and bees Wax:

FADECO through its trading arm (FADECO Trading Ltd) has tried to identify both local and international markets of honey. This has been done by presenting locally produced honey on the markets in the towns of Bukoba, Mwanza, Dar Es Salaam and Arusha.

FADECO has also attended agricultural shows (NANE NANE) in Karagwe and Bukoba (1998-2001); Mwanza and Dar Es salaam (1999, 2000). The response is encouraging. Many consumers want good quality, un-boiled honey. It is possible to make honey of this quality from Karagwe. Several contacts were made with foreign buyers from England who showed interest in importing honey from the region, if quality and quantities were met. There is a need to do more follow up.

5.0 Aims of the bee keeping project:

The following have been the main motivating aims behind the promotion of bee keeping:

• Maximize benefits from planted and natural forests

• Provide a subsidiary and supplementary source of income

• Ensure long term sustainability and maximum utilization of the forest products

• Conserve the environment by protecting it from bush fires, etc.

• Provide an alternative source of revenue through diversification of economic activities in addition to other cash crops like coffee.

6. What are the visible benefits to the local person on the ground ?

6.1 Beekeeping can increase the incomes of rural villagers, especially women and youths, while simultaneously protecting the environment by discouraging the custom of setting bush fires. The benefits of beekeeping are many and varied, including, for example, job/ employment creation at low cost, the use of honey and hive products to improve health (honey used as medicine e.g. propolis) or as highly nutritious foods, or simply as one of life's luxuries. Wax (a by product of bee keeping) can be used to make candles.

6.2 Beekeeping has positive ecological consequences. Bees play an important role in the pollination of many flowering plants and crops, thus increasing yield of major food crops. The more flowers which are pollinated the more seeds, and the more harvests and the more food and the more money.

7.0 Problems affecting the Beekeeping industry:

Albeit the many efforts as mentioned above, the beekeeping industry is facing a lot of constraints that effect if expansion and success. As has been outline above, the major groundwork has been established by the institutions, which did a commendable job to transfer and disseminate the technology of beekeeping. The major problems facing the industry now are:

7.1 Limited access to information about available markets:

There is limited information about markets not only for honey, but also for other agricultural products. In an attempts to bridge the information gap, FADECO thought to start up an information facility through which it would be able able to gather and disseminate development information including that on markets.

Unfortunately, this resource centre is not yet fully connected to the Internet. It offers a very very little service hampered by the telephone charges. Efforts to develop this into a fully fledged information telecentre with unlimited access to the Internet have not yielded much success. Once this is done, it will be possible to access a lot more information and particularly on markets.

7.2 Limited processing, Purification and packaging facilities:

7.2.1 If honey has to be put on the market, it must have the desired quality and taste. There is a lack of purification / processing facilities for honey before it can be sold to the market. This is a limiting factor. This requires huge capital investment.

7.2.2 In the first place, there must be an organization to take care of the collection, processing, purification and packaging before it can be put on the market. Secondly, the quantities must be sufficient enough to meet the demand of available markets (local and export) and to offset the operational and management costs of the organization FADECO Trading Co. Ltd has added honey among its product items. With proper financing, it should be able to solve this problem in the near future.

7.2.3 Proper packaging for the Honey and honey products (e.g. wax) should be attractive if it will have to sell on the market. Appropriate bottles/ jars with colorful labels would need to be resourced. FADECO trading Co. LTD had designed labels and procured plastic jar from Kampala- Uganda. Initial attempt to market the karagwe honey locally seem to be successful. More honey is however available for export.

8.0 Proposed interventions between FADECO NGO and its trading arm FADECO Trading Co. LTD

FADECO Trading Co. LTD would like to promote the marketing of honey and honey products first on the local and later on the export market. The goal is not only to achieve direct benefits and economic gains for farmers or /endless people, but to introduce modern beekeeping that also helps to prevent misuse of forest areas by "bee hunters" who burn the bees to get at the honey.

An indirect benefit of intensified beekeeping is pollination within and for agricultural production systems. In order to do this effectively, FADECO would have to ensure that a number of issues are addressed:

8.1 Proper and technical training to beekeepers in modern beekeeping and in harvesting techniques:

• Beekeepers would have to be trained in proper management of bees, the harvesting techniques without using open fire but use of e.g. bee smokers or tranquilizers, proper use of harvesting gears (head veil, gloves, overalls, etc.) and where possible, how to make these harvesting gears locally.

• Honey is highly hygroscopic. Beekeepers need to be made aware that, proper handling of honey after harvesting is very crucial, to keep moisture away from affecting it. Once affected by moisture, honey tends to granulate and later crystallizes. This affects the quality of honey tremendously. So Proper packaging e.g. airtight plastic buckets, would be deemed very necessary.

8.2 Mobilizing of beekeepers into a cooperative society:

• Although the idea of cooperatives is not appreciated in Karagwe, beekeeping industry would best be managed if these were organized in some of coops. Likewise, collection of honey and wax would be much more easier this way.

8.3 Establish a central collection, processing, purifying and packaging station:

• A Suitable collection place with ample space and factory is necessary where appropriate equipment for handling, processing, purification and packaging of the honey and wax could be done. A set of equipment for purifying the honey is deemed very necessary if honey is to have the desired quality for the market.

8.4 Establish an efficient market and distribution system:

• As part of her business plan, FADECO Trading Co. LTD would have to establish a smooth marketing and distribution systems for the marketing of honey. Using existing super markets or food shops, FTC would then succeed to market this other wise high value product on both the local and export markets.

9.0 BENEFITS TO THE LOCAL ECONOMY:

Once the marketing of honey is achieved, beekeeping industry would then be meaningful to the farmers involved, bringing to them the following short and long-term benefits:

• Increased revenue from the sale of honey and wax

• Creation of jobs and/ or self-employment at low cost at different levels of production (bee keeping, processing, packaging and marketing/ distribution)

• Increased availability of high nutrient value product (honey) on the local market

• Creation of other related income-generating projects e.g. making candles, batik clothes, etc.

• Increase export earnings to the national economy in addition to traditional crops like coffee

• Increase/ affect crop production through pollination by bees

10.0 FUTURE STRATEGIES BY FADECO TRADING COMPANY LTD:

• Identify, mobilize and train all groups/ individuals that are engaged in traditionally bee keeping ; and assist them to form groups (small coops).

• Empower them with lacking technical skills. Gradually introduce them to modern bee- hives (e.g. the Kenya Top Bar hives which is commercial and easy to build and manage)

• Train them (through organized training workshops and close follow up) in better ways of hive management and harvesting of honey. This includes supplementary feeding of bees, use of harvesting gears (e.g. use of bee smokers instead of fire), handling of honey after harvesting, extraction of wax, etc.

• Set up a mechanism and infrastructure for collection, processing, packaging and marketing of honey and wax. The final stage will involve the securing an investment capital fund for the purchase of essential bee harvesting gears, honey handling containers, processing equipment (honey presses and filters) and packaging materials (plastic buckets and jars). establishment of essential premises for collection, processing, packaging and storage of processed honey or other honey products like wax

Conclusion:

If you would like to participate in the project at any stage, you are most welcome to contact Fadeco. It could be that you have information about available markets, or you would be willing to support training of beekeepers. May be you wish to provide investment capital or you could be a buyer. You would as well be a like-mind environmental agitator.

FADECO welcomes your ideas, suggestions and support.

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