‘Honey can replace oil as major foreign exchange earner’

In my quest to make myself employed, I had to think of how to create job for myself. The idea came when I read an article in the newspaper, where some foreign companies are demanding for yellow bee wax in Nigeria. I   decided to visit the agricultural department of Michael Okpara at the University of Agriculture, Umudike (MOUAU) in Abia State, on enquiry on how to get the yellow bee wax. This was what led me into beekeeping for honey production. I registered my farm in 2012 with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

At MOUAU, I met an expert who advised, mentored and provided me with some of the equipment I needed to start farming.

It requires minimal capital. The very first thing one needs before going into it is for one to have the knowledge; both theoretical and practical knowledge is needed. It also requires courage because the fear of bee is what makes people cringe in this part of the world. Bee is a free gift of nature, created by God but people’s fear now makes it appear as if it is not possible to domesticate bees.

The challenge I had was my inability to attract bees into the honey pot or hive. I went for further training at Meizube Farms, where some Israelis who are experts in African honey bees taught me how to attract bees into the hive.

Another major challenge is bush burning. In Nigeria, during the dry season, bush burning is very high and also the wind. The wind period is also challenging but it can be taken care of by practical experience.

The returns from the venture are high. What you need to know is that the honey bee keeping in Nigeria is a thriving one because every day people demand for honey for their consumption. It is an ideal business for anybody to delve into; health wise, it is medicinal; it is used for the treatment of ulcer, cough and several other health challenges.

The first marketing strategy I adopted was through person-to-person approach and sampling. I was going to highly populated public places to advertise my produce. I tell them that I am into honey production and give samples for tasting with explanations on the benefits of honey to the body; from there, they started patronising me. I also visited exhibitions and events for the marketing of my produce.

The return on investment is very high and our environment is very ideal. The bee is not into any competition with any other animal in the production of the nectar in honey-making. The country environment is also blessed with flowers where these bees source their materials for honey-making. From one colony of bees, you are likely to get not less than twenty-five to thirty litres of honey, and then multiply it by the number of bee hives, one has stored.

My advice is a simple one. As you can see, oil which is Nigeria’s main foreign exchange earner is sliding in price and government can no longer hold on to it, alternatively, if the government of Nigeria can look inwards through agriculture, bee keeping and the entire sector can take the place of oil in the Nigerian economy.

If the Federal Government can make bee keeping a business, there would be a mass production of honey for export. A litre of honey is sold for N3, 000 and that tells you how costly honey can be and the demand for the product is also very high.