Beesfor Development Journal 78
NEWS AROUND THE WORLD CHINA China issues national standards for honey China has issued a set of compulsory national standards for honey, which will take effect from 1 March 2006. The compulsory standards stipulate that no starch, sugar, or sugar substitutes may be added to honey. The standards also ban the addition or mixture of foreign substances such as preservatives, and specify the methods and principles to test adulteration in honey. Under the new standards, the naming of honey products is integrated with international standards. If any other nutritious substances are added to honey, 'honey' may not be used in the name of the product.
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GHANA Since 1992, The Bencom Mushroom Enterprise Project at Twimia Nkwanta, near Techiman, has trained more than 500 youths each year in beekeeping, grasscutter rearing, mushroom production, and snail farming. Bernard Bempah, Managing Director of the Company said that the project served as the training centre in the northern sector of the country. The International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) and the Rural Enterprise Project sponsored the training programmes to enable youths to acquire employment skills. Students from some agricultural institutions in the country undertake practical training at the project site and Mr Bempah appealed to financial institutions and NGOs to offer credit facilities to such students to initiate their own projects.
while local bees were 'fierce and wild' despite being reared in farms. He said it was much easier to collect honey from the 'Australian' bees unlike the local bees, which were more territorial. Ahmad said he had to wear protective gear or smoke the local bees off if he wanted to collect their honey, but did not have to do so with the 'Australian' ones. He said his farm receives visitors regularly, so it was safer to keep the 'Australian' bees as they would not be agitated by a human presence. Ahmad buys 20 queen bees at RM100 (€22, US$27) each and the bees are individually placed in special cases during their flight from Australia. "Each box can produce 1.5-2 kg of honey in 40-45 days or even faster depending on the supply of nectar", he said. The bees find their food from the surrounding areas which is filled with banana trees, durian, mango, rambutan, and flowering plants. Ahmad said the taste of the honey depends on the fruit nectar gathered by the bees, with durian having the top taste followed by coconut. He said the bees fly up to 1.5 km in search of food. Ahmad processes and bottles his own honey in his backyard with the help of some basic honey extraction equipment. A small bottle of pure honey costs RM15.0 (€3.4, US$4.0) while a big bottle is priced at RM20.0 (€4.5, US$5.4).
Zazali Musa, www.thestar.com
SOLOMON ISLANDS
ghanaweb.com
INDONESIA Cashing in on Australian bees Some might have qualms about interacting with bees but not Ahmad Mustafa who has been living with them for the past 20 years. Ahmad, 58, is the sole bee farmer in Kampung Perpat Timbul village, Johor and his secluded house is located near Tanjung Piai, the southernmost tip of mainland Asia. Ahmad decided to go into beekeeping after he enrolled on a course aimed to diversify his income as a rubber producer and fisherman. "Initially, I reared local bees but I switched to 'Australian' bees eight years ago", Ahmad said. In 1997, Ahmad went to Melbourne to attend a course at an agricultural institute for three months where he found it easier dealing with 'Australian' bees. Ahmad said the exotic species Apis mellifera was 'tame and gentle',
© Kathleen Cooper and Peter Hardie
Rachel and Mary, Life Skills Students at Airahu Rural Training Centre with their popular bee veils. The veils are sold throughout the Islands for US$5 each. At the Training Centre, beekeeping can be a cross discipline study with the departments of carpentry, agriculture, and life skills (home economics) all getting involved.
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UGANDA ADB pledges US$9m to boost honey sector The African Development Bank (ADB) has pledged a US$5 million grant and US$4 million loan to help boost Uganda's honey production capacity. ADB Country Operations Officer Benedict Kanu was quoted saying that the bank has expressed interest in honey production in Uganda as one of the ways of fighting poverty. He was meeting honey producers under their umbrella association, Uganda Honey Beekeepers Association (UHA), who had submitted a proposal to ADB for assistance to boost production. UHA Secretary-General Christopher Karamagi said the Government recently recognised the beekeeping industry but there is still limited funding. "As of now, we get limited domestic and foreign donor funding to help the industry, yet it has huge potential to alleviate rural poverty", said Karamagi. Uganda's honey production is still below subsistence, and domestic consumption is generally limited to use of honey as a natural medicine. Karamagi said due to this low production, UHA buys only good quality honey at 1,500 Ugandan shillings, equivalent to €0.70, US$0.83 per kilogram. He said there is an insatiable demand for honey and its products in both the domestic and foreign markets. "We have some orders from Norway which need 300 tonnes, Germany 1,000 tonnes and Kenya 40 tonnes, but we are still constrained by limited working capital", said Karamagi. www.chinaview.cn
UGANDA and KENYA East Africa firms to reap from fund One thousand small enterprises in Kenya and Uganda will benefit from the $100m East Africa Small Enterprises Fund. A statement from Shell Foundation said the first phase of the rollout programme would begin in the two countries. Over the next 12 months, the Fund will finance small enterprises in other subSaharan countries as local and international investors get on board. Based on successful pilot programmes in Uganda and South Africa, the Fund is expected to improve the livelihoods of many Africans. Contributors to the Fund are Shell Foundation, Africa-based financial specialist GroFin Capital, Commonwealth Development Corporation, Netherlands Development Corporation and two leading African banks. Launched on 1 July 2005, the Fund is the first initiative by international and local financiers to address lack of finance and business skills for small African businesses. In Uganda, the pilot project benefited Maria Odido, a honey producer, who used the fund for a five-fold increase in output. Under the model,
