Beekeeping & Development 62
by Mike Embrey and Bill Lord, USA
Photographs
Bill Lord
Mick Embrey and Bill Lord are extension specialists in the USA states of Maryland and North Carolina respectively. In 2001 Michael and Bill worked with the Farmer-to-Farmer project in Turkmenistan assisting beekeepers. The project is financed by Winrock International (USA). Turkmenistan, formerly part of the Soviet Union, is a desert country in Central Asia with summer temperatures soaring as high as 50°C. The main agricultural product is cotton, and it is also the source of most of the honey. During Soviet times all honey produced was shipped elsewhere for processing and distribution. Therefore, even though beekeepers take great care of their hives, they have little experience in processing, packaging, or sale of honey. Beekeepers need to learn processing and marketing skills so they can sell honey and increase their
incomes, which average about US$30 per month. Winrock International requested us to provide technical assistance in honey processing and marketing. Because of the
repressive political climate in Turkmenistan, it had not been possible until the year 2000 to form a beekeepers association or
co-operative. On previous trips, two attempts had been made to teach beekeepers rudimentary honey processing and sales techniques, but none of these efforts were sustained after the consultants left. Winrock
was able to form a women’s co-operative in the year 2000, and we thought that honey would be a good commodity for the co-operative to sell.
In
2001, Bill and Mike travelled
to
To liquefy the milk cans of solid honey,
Turkmenistan to work with the newly organised Ikinjiler Limited Liability Partnership (ILLP),
we helped the women’s co-operative build a hot water bath to melt the contents of three
a women’s co-operative, based in the village of Bairamaly, Turkmenistan. The object of the
cans at a time, and then constructed a double walled bottiing tank to strain and bottle the
co-operative is income generation for women, creating new jobs where none existed before, and incomes are limited to approximately US$1 per day. A $2000 grant was secured from Rotary Clubs in North Carolina, USA,
honey, all out of locally available materials.
and the funds were used to buy honey, build processing equipment, purchase jars, and
print labels. Since it had been difficult to interest beekeepers in processing and
marketing honey on previous trips, the idea here was to set the co-operative up as a
Another aspect of the project has been training in marketing techniques and opportunities. There is a limited market-based
economy in Turkmenistan. We spent considerable time reinforcing the fact that quality products sell themselves, trying to establish a foundation of good customer service, and ensuring the co-operative kept store shelves stocked with good quality honey.
middleman honey processor. It is the responsibility of the co-operative to purchase honey from local beekeepers, process and pack it, and deliver it to markets in other
towns to ensure a successful continuation of the marketing plan. Turkmen beekeepers store raw honey in 50 litre aluminium milk cans. The cotton honey crystallizes rapidly. A survey of honey buyers in the capital Ashgabat carried out by
US Peace Corps volunteer in 1999 indicated most consumers preferred liquid honey.
a
Inspecting the freshly bottled honey.
A Bees for Development publication
An arta offrom the honey
co-operative filling jars with locally made bottling tank
