THE Government of Uganda is promoting bee-keeping to boost the incomes of the rural
people. The draft Uganda honey policy (2004) estimates that there are 80,000
bee-keepers countrywide, with 700,000 hives, producing about 5,000 tonnes of
combed honey annually.
Few Ugandans have ventured into bee-keeping on a commercial basis yet evidence
suggests that it is a viable household enterprise. For example, a single
Langstroth hive, which costs sh100,000, has the potential to produce 45kg of
honey a year. Currently a kilogramme of combed honey costs sh4,000. A
bee-keeper can easily earn sh180,000 per annum, per hive if the bee hives are
well managed.
Currently, the demand for honey outstrips the supply. As a result, some honey
is currently being informally imported into Uganda from the Democratic Republic
of Congo and Tanzania. There is also also a growing demand for propolis (a
natural health product), beeswax, royal jelly and bee venom. Bee-keepers can
also trade in bees themselves, particularly the queens, due to the low hive
colonisation rates in some parts of Uganda.
Bee-keeping requires little capital investment, land, less labour and does not
need good soil. It can easily be practiced by men, women, youth as well as
people with disabilities. It can also act as an ecotourism site. For example
in Bwindi, tourists pay $20 to visit a bee-keeping project at Buhoma Village
Walk.
A year ago, members of Kyempara Bee Farmer’s Association in Bwera, Kasese
district, in spite of their expertise and traditional skills, were struggling
due to lack of modern beehives to maximise the income potential of bee-keeping.
Hives Save Lives Africa (HSLA) provided them with 40 Langstroth hives worth
sh4m and a five-day course to enable them make the transition from traditional
honey-hunting to bee farming. In the honey harvesting season of July-October
2009, they were able earn sh4m from the sell of one tonne of honey, thereby
recovering total investment in one season.
However, to break the poverty trap through bee-keeping, there is need to reduce
the cost of a modern hive that is currently far beyond the reach of the
majority poor farmers in Uganda.