Korogwe District in Tanga Region plans to start honey processing to add value to the product before export.
In an interview in Dar es Salaam recently, the council’s official incharge of Lands, Environmental and Natural Resources, Ms Betty Munuo said they want to export the processed product to the European markets. She said the plant is expected to be located within the Korogwe Township for ease of transport for communities which live in the nearby villages, especially those in low-lands.
There is huge potential, she said, for beekeeping to communities living adjacent to conserved forest resources. The district’s move would motivate beekeepers to increase honey production to meet the demand of the proposed plant. “Beekeeping is yet to be tapped,” she said, calling on Korogwe residents to chipin and invest in the project.
Munuo assured communities of honey- market availability saying: “Market for honey in Korogwe is no longer a problem… we have plenty market for honey and the honey is nowhere to be seen,” she said. Currently, she said, a litre of honey is sold at 10,000/- within Korogwe area and one modern beehive produces 20 litres.
So, one beehive can make someone earn 200,000/-.” She said there are about 412 groups of beekeepers in Korogwe district. EAMCEF field officer in the East Usambara Mountains, Magret Victor said that the fund has been dishing-out millions of shillings for communities living adjacent to forest reserve for them to come up with their own economic project in an effort to reduce pressure on forest resources.
She said before sensitizing communities on the need for them to come up with alternative sources of income, the situation in the forest was bad. “Things are normalizing.” she said. She said beekeeping project is one of the sustainable ways of earning income from the forest’s resources that do not involve cutting down trees to sell for firewood and charcoal.
“This new enterprise, which will play a major role in preserving the forest’s natural resources for future generations in the area and ensure people with enough rains and normalize the environment,” she says.
Acting Korogwe District Council’s Executive Director, Kakulu Lugembe commended different partners like the Eastern Arc Mountains Endowment Fund (EAMCEF), who have been supporting communities with alternative income generating activities.
He said such projects would make people actively take part in forest conservation initiatives. “When these forests are lost, we lose their unique biodiversity, as well as the ecological services that they provide, including water catchment, soil conservation, pollination, and non-timber forest products,” he said.
Although currently being conducted below its real potential, the beekeeping industry in Tanzania still plays a major role in socio-economic development and environmental conservation. It is a source of food (honey, pollen and brood), raw materials for various industries (beeswax candles, lubricants), medicine (honey, propolis, beeswax bee venom) — and income for beekeepers and other stakeholders as a whole!
She said the sub-sector is an important income-generating activity with high potential for improving incomes, especially for communities living close to forests and woodlands. And apart from that, it plays a major role in improving biodiversity, and increasing crop production through pollination.
Beekeeping in Tanzania is carried out using traditional methods that account for 99 per cent of the total production of honey and beeswax. Approximately, 95 per cent of all beehives are traditional: Log and bark hives. Others are reeds, gourds, pots…
During the colonial and early Independence periods, the volumes of bee products were higher than what we have now. They were among the important non-wood products from the forests, with a relatively higher contribution to the GDP and international trade!
However, today the industry has declined in exports to an insignificant level despite its high potential. That observation is supported by Tanzania Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda’s remarks when addressing members of the business community, Cabinet ministers and other officials who toured his farm located at Zuzu, which boasts more than 1,000 beehives.
Noting that products from bees are on the decline, Pinda explained that this is partly because some people living near forests and other places where bees are available don’t have the notion that beekeeping can change their social and economic conditions for the better.
By ORTON KIISHWEKO, Tanzania Daily News
