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By Fred Ndiwalana
THE margins on resale of goods, especially those which are imported, are narrowing. Many Ugandans involved in trade are feeling the pinch as would-be buyers of imported goods look for alternatives or postpone consumption where possible, to wait for the pressure created by the worldwide recession to ease.
Faced with a challenge to invest and stay ahead in these difficult times, some wise Ugandans are turning to bees to do the hard work for them by investing in apiculture. Apiculture is the keeping of bees to generate an income.
Bees:
Bees are found almost anywhere in Uganda. There are many kinds of bees but those that are important for economic purposes are the honey bees and the stingless bees (kadoma) which live in colonies.
The bees collect large amounts of food which they store in order to survive periods of adverse conditions. It is these stores of food in the form of honey and pollen that are harvested.
In order not to kill the colony, it is important that the honey is extracted when the bees can replace it. It is also good to know what to do to make sure that the bees are able to replenish the honey stocks in the shortest time possible. All this requires skill and good knowledge about the business of keeping bees for money.
The honey:
Honey is made up of unique sugars that are readily absorbed by the body and are, therefore, of good nutritional and health value. Honey is an extremely suitable food for children, sick people and those who perform heavy manual work. It is also used as a sweetener in many medicines, food and drink.
Honey is used to make beer and wine. Because of the numerous uses of honey but limited knowledge about apiculture, the amount of honey produced in the world is much less than its demand. It is with this knowledge that a number of Ugandans have started investing in bees and honey production.
Apart from honey, bees produce wax which is used in the manufacture of cosmetics, candles, medicines and polish. The pollen collected by bees is 35% protein and can be eaten dry or added to other foods.
Markets:
Uganda’s honey is rated as one of the best in the world if well produced. The world honey production has stagnated at 1.2 million metric tonnes a year, with a market value of about $452m since 2005. Less than 15% of this is produced in Africa. The top honey producers in Africa are Zambia and Ethiopia. Although Uganda is one of the few African countries allowed to export honey to the European Union, it produces only 5,000 metric tonnes a year. This is 1% of the country’s potential.
In the past, Uganda has failed to meet contracts to supply honey to markets in Europe. An average bee colony will produce between eight and 10 kilogrammes of honey a year. The average price of a kilogramme of honey on the world market is between 1.0 and 2.0 Euros.
Since the bees do most of the work, apiculture is a good source of income.
networks
The key districts for bee keeping in Uganda are Bushenyi, Nakasongola, Kabarole and the West Nile region. Bees, however, can do well in most parts of Uganda. The Uganda Export promotion board and the Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation are running a project aimed at increasing honey trade. The project targets building the capacity of honey producing groups in Uganda and linking them up with traders.
The upcoming Uganda National Farmers Association agricultural show in Jinja will also be a good place to network with honey producers and traders.
Bees are also responsible for cross-pollination of plants and increase crop yields for farmers. Keeping bees is, therefore, a must for any serious crop farmer.
The writer is a manager at
Bank of Africa
Published on: Saturday, 18th July, 2009
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