Beekeeping: Potentially lucrative but ignored enterprise

The resulting food insecurity and increased poverty in many households necessitated the intervention of an NGO, Self Help Africa, to change the situation by promoting beekeeping as an alternative enterprise. The project manager Kayunga district, Ms Dorothy Nekesa, says their research showed the area had high potential for honey production, which had not yet been exploited.

“One rainfall season a year makes it hard for farmers to grow enough food to eat and to sell so they needed a venture that will not only diversify their sources of livelihood but one that will also re-afforest the area to protect the environment, and bee-keeping was the suitable choice,” she explains.

Two years ago, Self Help Africa distributed Kenya Top Bar (KTB) beehives to 140 farmers in the Kitimbwa Kayonza Bee-keeper’s Association on a loan basis after training them in basic modern bee-keeping practices. The number of bee-hives that each farmer received depended on the size of land or the number he or she wanted. In addition, they were given calliandra tree seedlings to plant. On flowering, these would be pollinated by the bees.

“Each farmer paid 10 per cent of the total cost of each bee-hive, which is Shs 80,000 with a promise to pay the balance when he/she sells the honey,” Ms Nekesa says.

One of the beekeepers, who is also vice chairperson of the association, Mr Jamir Balongo, of Kyetume village, Kitimbwa sub-county, has 150 bee-hives. “Beekeeping is easy because compared to growing of crops, all a farmer needs is money to buy the bee-hives which he places in a suitable place and only wait to harvest the honey without incurring any other costs,” he says, “During a good season, on average a farmer can extract 10 litres of honey from each bee-hive and harvesting can be done three times a year depending on the weather.”

According to the project manager, honey production is rising and an extractor plant will be set up in Bbale town later this year. “When the construction of the honey extractor is complete, we shall all sell our honey as a group,” says Mr Adam Gitta, a farmer from Gayaza village, Bbale sub-county, “Something we hope will help us fetch higher prices.” Ms Asha Atengi, another beekeeper farmer in Galilaya village, Bbale sub-county, likes bee-keeping because it’s lucrative and can be carried out alongside crop farming and animal rearing.

Problems
There are, however, a number of challenges like failure of some bee-hives to be colonised by bees, and therefore lower production and returns than what was projected. The other is the cost of honey harvesting gear, which is between Shs100,000 and Shs200,000. This has forced some of them to employ rudimentary methods like using fire to scare bees which is destructive to bees. Also, the rampant long droughts is yet another challenge that they are facing.

Kayunga District Entomology Officer, Mr Jackson Egesa, states that beekeeping does well in areas that receive average rainfall and have a lot of vegetation. However, for a beekeeper to boost honey production, several things have to be done properly. This includes a suitable bee-hive.

He recommends modern bee-hives like Kenya Top Bar and Langstroth because they have a standard capacity which can accommodate a particular number of bees. These have top bars and frames where bees can construct combs easily so the amount of honey is generated very fast.

He further explains that by using modern methods of harvesting, the production is boosted because a small number of bees are killed during the process. This ensures a stable existence of the bee colony hence steady harvesting of honey every season.

Things to note
Also, the abundance of vegetation in an area boosts honey production because this means that there are many flowers from which bees can collect nectar. A beekeeper who locates bee-hives in an area with many flowers is likely to have more honey in a shorter time than one whose hives are in an area with fewer flowers.

Mr Egesa says when a bee-hive is placed in an open place where the hive gets direct sunlight, the temperatures in the hive will increase which will force bees to collect water and to flap their wings to cool the hive instead of collecting nectar to make honey. General management like controlling pests and predators from encroaching on the hives and cleanliness will also boost production.

There is a high correlation between the rainy or dry season and honey production. He explains that during rainy seasons, plants don’t flower and bees are inactive. Because of the cold temperatures, they don’t go out to collect nectar and there is likely to be less honey during this time and verse versa during dry periods. In fact bees feed on the honey in the hive during rainy seasons.

Because bees are naturally aggressive, a beekeeper must be thoroughly protected to ensure safety from getting bee stings which may cause injury. A bee keeper should put on an over-all, a bee veil on the head, leather gloves on the hands and wear gum boots. He or she should use a bee smoker, which will make them less aggressive. It’s advisable to harvest honey during cool hours of the day when bees are less active. A beekeeper should not inspect the hives after consuming alcohol, or has smoked or has used strong perfumes as this will force bees to attack.

Because honey absorbs not only moisture from the atmosphere but also scents, Mr Egesa advises that to ensure that the harvested honey is free from any smell or odour, beekeepers should process their honey in an environment free from smells and moisture. Honey should not be put in containers that have been used to carry substances like paraffin or oil, because however much that container is cleaned before honey is put in it, the honey will still bear that smell hence lowering its quality.
According to Ms Alice Kangave, an apiculture entomologist in the Ministry of Agriculture, Uganda’s honey exports have remained low despite commanding demand on the world market because of its good quality. The paltry exports volumes are as a result of low production and this has led to 25 per cent of the honey products to be imported. Yet Uganda is one of the African countries accredited to export honey to European market.

She revealed that the ministry had developed a draft national apiculture policy that will offer guidelines for commercialising the sector and increasing exports.

Ms Nekesa is also optimistic that with increased training and acquisition of experience in the venture, Kayunga will become one of the leading areas in honey production in the country. “The market for honey is available and is on the increase both locally and globally,” she asserts.