Bees for Development Journal 97
AFRICA-WALES HONEY AND BEESWAX TRADE PROJECT
Rebecca Howard, Guiding Hope, PO Box 15753, Yaoundé, Cameroon David Wainwright, Tropical Forest Products Ltd, PO Box 92, Aberystwyth, UK draining table, made of local timber and imported stainless steel mesh with 3.3 mm holes and 0.9 mm wire.
Keywords: beeswax extraction, Cameroon, honey extraction, Welsh Assembly Government Wales for Africa Grant Scheme
PHOTOS © GUIDING HOPE
The aims of the Project
• To identify the most cost effective and efficient equipment for processing comb honey harvested from fixed comb hives. • To maximise the recovery rate of liquid honey extracted from comb honey. • To improve the quality of beeswax harvested.
Bees for Development has been working with Tropical Forest Products (TFP) and Guiding Hope (GH) on an 18 month Project to improve the efficiency and quality of honey and beeswax harvested from local style hives by beekeepers in Cameroon. This honey and beeswax are to be sold on national and international markets. TFP began trading with GH in 2007 and provided the young enterprise with valuable support and guidance. Bf D is interested to share the learning from the Project with other potential honey and beeswax exporters through their extensive network. The Welsh Assembly Government provided funding for the Project through the Wales for Africa Grant Scheme. The Project is being implemented in three stages:
The first stage of the Project took place at GH’s processing plant in Cameroon in December 2009. This involved designing an improved system for separating liquid honey from beeswax comb. GH buys high quality honey in comb from over 600 beekeepers who are using local style hives across the savannah of Adamaoua. The liquid honey is separated from the beeswax comb at GH’s central plant. Before the Project, GH could process 1,950 kg of comb honey in a 24 hour period, using a series of 20 bottomless enamel basins lined with a layer of straw (as a filter) and placed over a second set of smaller enamel basins (see below).
The draining table made from local timber and imported stainless steel mesh
The new process had the following advantages:
Cleaner honey Honey was cleaner when drained through the stainless mesh rather than straw.
Increase in capacity Eight draining tables took up the same space in the warehouse as 20 basins, but could filter twice the amount of honeycomb in the same amount of time. Reduction of labour The new method is less labour intensive since employees are able to stand upright to pour the honey and then leave it to drain, whereas with the basins, they needed to regularly adjust the filters and change the collecting basins. Cost Each draining table costs USD100 (€74) for mesh plus USD150 (€110) for local materials and construction.
Using the old method, after the first draining the remaining residues were typically filtered in the sun, producing a second grade honey for sale on the national or regional market. The comb was then washed to prepare it for wax extraction. The honey washings still contained a significant amount of honey, a product which in other regions of Africa is commonly sold for honey beer brewing, but has no market in the region where GH operate because there is little consumption of honey beer. This honey separated from the comb during washing was therefore considered a waste product. However, during our investigations we found that at least 10% of total honey was being thrown away in these washings.
Before the Project, Guiding Hope used enamel basins lined with straw to separate liquid honey from beeswax comb
All across Adamaoua honey to be sold on national and regional markets is processed by leaving these basins in the sun to speed up the filtration process. However the heat created causes the HMF in the honey to increase. Therefore in the new process the honey is drained indoors, to prevent warming of honey and increase in HMF. In 2009 GH reached maximum filtration capacity because there was no space for any more enamel basins in the warehouse. With David Wainwright’s advice, GH worked with a local carpenter to design a
3
