ApiExpo 2018: Charting a way forward for beekeeping business

BEES which are seen by many as a dangerous insect to keep or rear, is also seen by some as a money spinning insect to be nurtured and reared in order accumulate wealth from its various hive products.

According to experts, bees can be less dangerous when the beekeeper respects them (bees), it may not sting the beekeepers when the observe the protocols of respecting the insects while ‘stealing’ from them, but otherwise the pains from the insects’ sting is always unbearable.

Beekeeping is the rearing and breeding of bees of different types primarily for honey and hive produce. It may also include keeping bees for pollination and environmental management among others.

Beekeeping or Apiculture is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made hives, most of such bees are honeybees in the the genus Apis.

Bees have several raw materials which includes, honey, bee wax, bee venom, royal jelly, propolis, bee bread, pollen. All these raw materials have been proven to be of immense economic value in the international market.

This month, Nigeria will be hosting the ApiExpo Africa 2018, which will see the convergence of investors in the Apicultural sub-sector across the world, coming to Nigeria to discuss the way forward in beekeeping, also using the opportunity to interface with Nigerian beekeepers to see possible areas of collaboration.

ApiExpo is a continental trade Expo  organised by ApiTrade Africa, a pan-African not-for profit organisation headquartered in Uganda but which works in all the 55 African Union Member States.

The event is held biennially in different African countries bringing together every allied industry around the global beekeeping sector.

ApiExpo is the African version of APIMONDIA (World Beekeeping Congress), it covers Exhibitions, Scientific sessions and Business meetings for investors and other actors along the value chain (beekeepers, packers, processors, Input fabricators, Researchers, academia etc). It is a congregation of every stakeholder along the beekeeping value chain

The ApiExpo is targeted towards setting up of a veritable platform for the convergence of apicultural leaders, international experts, farmers and processors from all over the world for the promotion of the practice and benefits of bee farming/processing in Africa.

It will also create international trade opportunities and foreign market access for the Beekeeping industry, attract national and international investments into the Beekeeping industry, and link and sustain these trade and investment benefits into long term industry processes.

The Expo will stimulate refined processes for sustainable growth through seamless collaboration between public and private sector players, strengthen the private sector towards sustained development, create youth employment thereby reducing rural urban drift & rural poverty.

The ApiExpo is also expected to increase food security through reduction of hunger related malnutrition in order to meet the 2030 zero hunger UN and FAO target and maintain eco-diversity balance through mitigation of global warming.

Apiculture  contributes tremendous amount in Value to the economy of any nation that harnesses the potentials in the sector. The honey bees work in different capacities to store resources, defend their residence, nurse their brood.

World Beekeeping Trade is valued at $450 billion (N162 trillion), Pollination output is valued at $250 billion (N90 trillion), the Net Value is at $11.5 Billion (N4.14 trillion, World Honey Production is at 1.8 million tons, African Market Share is 5 per cent (90,000 tons), Ethiopia’s Market Share accounts for 40,000 tons valued at $255,300,000 (N91.9 billion), while Nigeria market accounts for 15,000 tons valued at $96,025,000 (N34.6 billion).

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With about N210 or N410, (depending on the type of hives), one can start up a beekeeping business and make almost double if the investment from honey production and collection of other hive materials.

To start a beekeeping business with the Topbar hive, you are required to acquire 10 hives (N150,000), 2 bee suits (N20,000), 2 pair of gloves (N6,000), 2 pairs of shoes (N10,000), 1 hive tool (N1,000), 1 smoker (N5,000), maintenance (N18,000), totaling N210,000.

During harvest, this method is expected to yield 150kg of honey, and 37kg of bee wax, which values at at N524,000 in the market.

For the Langstroth be hive, the beekeeper is expected to buy 10 hives valued at N350,000, 2 bee suits (N20,000), 2 pair of gloves (N6,000), 2 pairs of shoes (N10,000), 1 hive tool (N1,000), 1 smoker (N5,000), maintenance (N18,000), totaling N210,000.

At harvest, the Langstroth hive is expected to produce 300kg of honey, and 15kg of bee wax, all valued at N930,000 in the market, which is double of the investment.

The importance of bee to agriculture cannot be over emphasized, it is said that if bees ceases to exist today, in the next 4 years, human beings will cease to exist, because bees help in pollinating majority of the flowering crops in the world.

According to an expert in beekeeping, Oluwaseun Johnson, “two thirds of the world’s 3000 species of agricultural crops require agents for pollination.

“Between $235 billion and $577 billion worth of annual global food production relies on direct contributions by pollinators. Pollinators such as bees, birds and bats affect 35 percent of the world’s crop production, increasing outputs of 87 of the leading food crops worldwide, as well as many plant-derived medicines.

The exact economic value of bee pollinated crops globally is not known but we know that bees exclusively pollinate Almonds, 90% of blueberries, apples avocados, cucumbers, oranges and pumpkins”.

Also according Oluwaseun Johnson, “in the United States alone, the nation’s largest producer of apples is Washington State. In a typical year, about three out of five (10 to 12 billion) apples in the United States come from Washington, and without bees, the cross-pollination needed to produce apples just wouldn’t happen on a scale large enough.

“About 80 percent of the world’s almond supply comes from California, which requires about half of the honeybee population in the United States for pollination each year. Valued at more than $3 billion, the almond crop is completely dependent on honeybees for pollination.

“Without honeybees, though, the majority of the country’s $193 million cucumber crop would be nonexistent. According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), more than $15 billion worth of crops are pollinated by bees each year just in the United States alone.

The Chairperson of the Organizing Committee of the ApiE, Dr Dooshima Kwange in while speaking at a program for media engagement with ApiExpo Africa Organization Committee, said that beyond the Expo, the target is to increase the awareness of honey production and make it a business that will be used to lift people out of poverty.

“We want to see that livelihood are increased, we want to see that allied industries, the pharmaceutical, the cosmetic industries have raw materials, we want to see that the processors have enough to process, we also want to see that we cut down on importing, we also want to see that we start exporting , so those are areas that we are looking at beyond the hives”, Dr Kwange noted.

In this year’s ApiExpo, the benefits to Nigeria in general and the Apiculture industry specifically will be improvement in livelihoods, job creation and empowerment for the populace.

Nigeria will also benefit the diversification of economy and generation of more foreign exchange, improvement in the quality and quantity of production of honey and other hive products. This will ensure food safety and increased raw materials for requisite industries.

Improvement in the sector would help in actualizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) – 1, 2, 3, 5, 12 and 15.

Other benefits include exposure of all participants along the beekeeping value chain to modern technologies showcased during the expo,this will help in promotion of value additions in hive products.