Proceedings of the second African honey trade workshop

Following the success of Bees for Development's First Honey Trade Workshop, which took place prior to the Apimondia Congress in Ireland in August 2005, we organised the Second African Honey Trade Workshop in October 2006. It was part of our DFID/BLCF Project on African Honey, and the main sponsor was Rowse Honey Ltd. Over 100 participants from 14 countries attended the Workshop, held at Seeta, near Kampala, Uganda. For four days African honey producing and trading businesses considered challenges that face honey trade in Africa.

Bees for Development's perception is that the potential of apiculture to bring significant economic development and hence poverty alleviation to Africa, is not yet being achieved. Thousands of poor beekeeper-farmers in Africa have the means and knowledge to harvest honey from bees, yet lack access to reliable markets. The main purpose of the Workshop was therefore to discuss issues surrounding trade in African honey, and ways to increase trade for beekeepers.

Programme themes: hearing from honey importers; the international honey market; EU requirements; producing fair trade honey and meeting fair trade standards; honey tasting and exhibition; producing organic honey and meeting organic Standards; producer associations and supply chain development: and appropriate interventions = better returns. All the papers presented in these sessions are given here. Also included are the opening speeches made by The Honourable First Lady of Uganda, Mrs Janet Museveni, MP and other dignitaries, with an overview of Uganda's apiculture sector provided by Dr Nicholas Kauta, plus contact details of participants.

During the Workshop there were periods where participants formed groups to consider specific issues more closely. Their discussions were taken on board in plans for the creation of the new Association, now named Apilrade Africa (see left). The Minutes of the Association’s meetings and Statement of Establishment are here.

The Proceedings can be accessed on our website, however the files are large. This CD provides the complete information from the Workshop. See also Proceedings of the First : Honey Trade Workshop (VID41). These contain more details about EU accreditation, and information from other continents.

For a summary and assessment of the situation of African honey trade, we recommend that you read the article published in B/D Journal 81, pages 2-5.

Each CD costs £10 €15.

Details on how to order see page 15