Bees for Development Journal 111
INTERVIEW WITH RAHI HONEY Janet Lowore from Bees for Development interviewed Rahel Tamrat when they met in Addis Ababa in February 2014 PHOTOS © TILAHUN GEBEY
JL: How did you first become involved in honey trade? RT: I was the Chairperson of a small organisation near Addis Ababa which helped disadvantaged women and children – especially children not going to school. We started by helping with education, health and addressing harmful traditional practices. We then realised that women needed a source of reliable income above all else – this was important for sustainability. So we helped a group of women start small businesses which included poultry keeping, small trading and beekeeping. The women could choose which business option they preferred. JL: Were these businesses successful? RT: The poultry businesses did not succeed. The hens needed a lot of looking after and the feed was expensive. Small trading was moderately successful, but beekeeping was very successful. We soon realised that the beekeeping businesses needed a marketing aspect and I stepped in and bought the honey and sold it for the women. The beekeeping side of things grew until 400 women were involved. All the time I was selling their honey. So I decided I could expand further and go into the honey business full-time.
The newly made hives are easy to transport important for traceability. They have been helped with training, extraction equipment, loans – and they also share resources. We negotiate the price each year and over time we have built a good relationship. There is no need to have a formal contract with my beekeepers – after all they could simply tell me the harvest was poor and sell elsewhere and side-step the agreement. At the end of the day it is essential that we have a strong working relationship based on trust.
JL: What was your next step? RT: I already had some land in Adama, which is 100 km from Addis Ababa. I got a business licence and built a honey processing facility. Then I went to Jimma and liaised with local government offices and with help from SNV (Netherlands Development Organisation) I identified farmers to supply me with honey. I also established my own apiary.
JL: What is your volume turnover?
JL: Where do you sell?
RT: Each year I buy and sell eight to ten tonnes.
RT: I sell in bulk to Sudan and countries in the Middle East. My next idea is to pack and sell in supermarkets in Addis Ababa. In the future I would like to export to Europe and the USA.
JL: What are your plans concerning markets? RT: Distant exports have lower prices and yet demand high volume. Local prices are high and I can deal in smaller volumes which is why I have started with local markets. Ethiopians are not used to buying table honey packed in jars from supermarkets and they do not always trust the product. This is now changing. Eventually I would like to expand my market reach.
JL: How many beekeepers do you work with, and how were they selected? RT: I have 400 suppliers and they were chosen according to a number of criteria. They had to have bees already, be willing to participate in the capacity building programme, and be willing to sell to Rahi Honey. It was important that a number were women beekeepers. I know all my suppliers. This is
JL: How many of your new farmers are women? RT: About 15%. Some of these are single women, or other women come to the training who are more interested in beekeeping than their husbands. However it is usually men who come to the training. They say that their wives have many duties at home and cannot come. However, usually both men and women take care of bees because women are at home and can take care of bees near the house. JL: What sort of training do you provide? RT: We offer training about harvesting and post-harvest handling. We also teach people how to make top-bar hives using local materials and teach about the importance of beeswax and how to process it. We train how to separate honey and beeswax at home. Safe and good honey harvesting without harming the bees is also part of the programme. JL: What sort of hives do you promote? RT: I buy and sell beeswax as well as honey. Beeswax is in high demand and sells for a high price. For this reason I promote local style hives and top-bar hives because beekeepers can harvest a lot of wax.
Using locally available materials to construct top-bar hives 5
