ApiExpo: Bee farmers target 300MT honey export to EU market

AS Nigeria prepare to host this year’s Apicultural Expo (ApiExpo), Bee farmers across the country is currently targeting to use the Expo as a stepping stone towards exploring the potentials of exporting honey to the European Union market.AS Nigeria prepare to host this year’s Apicultural Expo (ApiExpo), Bee farmers across the country is currently targeting to use the Expo as a stepping stone towards exploring the potentials of exporting honey to the European Union market.

This year’s ApiExpo is expected to attract exhibitors across Africa and beyond, it is also expected to grow the agricultural sector through improved honey production and other hive components.

Speaking with Nigerian Tribune the Chairman of Nigerian Apiculture Platform and the CEO of A and Shine Honey Company, Ademola Adeshina, said this year’s ApiExpo is expected to blow up the agricultural sector, and enlighten the public on the need to go into bee keeping.

According to him “we are expecting that it will blow up the sector, it will make people to become aware that the bee sector is actually money spinning sector, we want to enlighten the public through the ApiExpo which is going to attract exhibitors from the entire African Countries and even beyond.

“By the time people see what you can get from the bee hive, people will start developing interest and more people will be drawn into the sector, more bee keepers, more money, more foreign exchange, because we are already preparing the ground to see how we can access the European Union (EU) market, in fact in the previous days, we have been meeting with consultants from Uganda who are putting us through the requirements that we need to put in place to be able to access the EU market and we are pursuing that vigorously, so that once we become qualified to access the EU market, then sky is the limit from export”.

Mr Adeshina revealed that “the last host of ApiExpo was in Kigali, Rwanda, before Kigali, it was hosted in Ethiopia, the hosting of ApiExpo in Ethiopia has transformed the bee sector in Ethiopia that they are now the highest exporter of honey from Africa”.

He, therefore, “Ethiopia was just like Nigeria, but after the hosting of the ApiExpo, more people came into that sector and they were able to become the highest honey producing nation in Africa today”.

Speaking further, Adeshina said “So we believe that this ApiExpo is going to bring us into the world map of honey producing nation by the time we host it and we are able to draw interest from people, it may not be overnight, but by the time people see, especially the rural dwellers whose business is mainly farming, by the time they see and able to be convinced that by keeping one or two hives in their farms will boost their harvest, then they will be encouraged to add additional hives and apart from pollinating of their crops by the bees, they will also be getting addition income from honey, from proponents, bee venom, and several others bee hive products”.

When asked how much Nigeria is planning to generate from honey exportation to Europe, Adeshina said “in seeking approval for residual monitoring to export honey to the EU market, we must also be specific on what quantity we will be able to start exporting, and we have put that to about 300 metric tons to start which can increase gradually, we don’t want to be too optimistic, but we believe we will be able to start with about 300 metric tons .

“That is to say that the production level should be targeting about 700 metric tons and we are assuming that 50 per cent of that will be consumed locally and the balance can be used for export. 1kg of honey cost about N1500 and it one metric ton we have 1000kg honey.

As part of encouraging young farmers to venture into bee keeping, Adeshina said “at the flagging off of this ApiExpo, there are so many events that will take place, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have acquired about 1000 bee hives, and we are going to identify catchment areas where we will distribute these bee hives including bee suit, boots and necessary things for keeping bees.

“So we are projecting that anyone that is allocated two bee hives for instance, he would have known the quantity of his harvest before outing the hives and at the end of the harvest after putting the hives, he will be able to see the difference that the harvest have actually increased, and with that he will be able to additional hives”.