‘Malawi honey council could promote market linkages’

Bee-keeping, also known as apiculture, is the art or business of managing honey bees for the purpose of producing honey, beeswax and other bee products for personal consumption and industrial use. In Malawi, apiculture has traditionally been an important activity for many decades and also a source of food, income and employment for people, particularly in the rural areas.

Honey in Malawi is mainly produced by small-scale beekeeping households who operate individually or in beekeeping associations and medium or large-scale semi-commercial beekeepers. Bee-keeping in Malawi is a traditional part time occupation practised throughout the country, especially in natural forest reserves and around large mountains by the rural people.

Since Malawi’s economy is dependent on agriculture, it follows that the role played by bees in pollinating crops is very crucial. In addition, the majority of people involved in agricultural production in Malawi are poor and live in rural areas where large tracts of forests are found.

In this regard, Government of Malawi has adopted poverty reduction as one of its development strategy and apiculture is one of the industries being promoted in the rural areas to improve off-farm incomes and employment. The apiculture industry provides the much-needed diversification in the agricultural production base. It is, therefore, imperative that efforts to encourage bee-keeping in Malawi are supported and encouraged as a strategy to poverty reduction. But the industry, which has the potential to improve off-farm incomes and employment, is disorganised and needs urgent attention to facilitate marketing and to enable bee-keepers negotiate better prices for their honey.

In a recent fact-finding mission organised by Civil Society Agriculture Network (Cisanet) in Mzuzu and Kasungu Agriculture Development Divisions (ADDs) with financial assistance of Christian Aid, the revelations were stark. The beekeeping industry in Malawi has a number of issues and challenges, which need to be addressed to accelerate the development of this sector.

Cisanet is implementing a project titled, ‘Promoting and strengthening honey and pigeon peas value chains in Malawi’, with funding from Christian Aid. For example, in Kasungu ADD, it was learnt agricultural officials have no record of honey production despite existing farmers’

cooperatives such as Chitu Honey Cooperative in Traditional Authority (T/A) Santhe in Kasungu. Kasungu ADD covers Kasungu, Dowa, Mchinji and Ntchisi.

During interaction with farmers and other key informants in the honey value chain, it was learnt that the industry is faced with a myriad challenges. The challenges include lack of business approach to beekeeping, finance for expansion, technical capacity and an enabling regulatory and policy framework.

Commenting on the challenges, Cisanet national director Tamani Nkhono-Mvula said the solution to the challenges facing the honey industry is the formation of a national oversight body to create a thriving, well-developed and sustainable apiculture sector in Malawi.

This will ensure that there are attractive returns to bee-keepers and other stakeholders, thereby encouraging them to offer hive products that are highly competitive and recognised in national, regional and international markets.

“It is unfortunate that a promising sector like that of honey production is being neglected. As Cisanet, we would like to call upon government, non-governmental organisations and farmer organisations to explore ways on how honey production can be further developed.

“There is high demand for Malawi’s honey in the Scandinavian countries, the demand that we have not even scratched. Honey production has a high multiplier effect in the sense that it will help improve natural resources as we turn charcoal makers into honey farmers, thereby reducing their dependence on charcoal. Honey is also not laborious to produce and it is very nutritive,” he said.

Nkhono-Mvula said they recommend the establishment of the Honey Council as is the case with Zambia and Kenya, which is providing space for interface among honey value chain players, but also to help in fostering market linkages for honey farmers, ensuring that standards are followed. The body will also ensure that there is a conducive policy environment for honey production and trade.

He also explained that the fact that there are no records in Kasungu ADD attests to lack of seriousness on the part of government to diversify farmers’ income into activities such as honey production.

Bernard Kaunda, operations director at Mzuzu Coffee Planters Cooperative Union Limited, whose institution packages and sells honey, observed that Malawi has good honey on the market now. He, however, lamented that the industry in Malawi is not organised as a result “you can’t have a common industry”. He concurred with Nkhono-Mvula that there is need for the establishment of the Malawi Honey Council to organise the industry. Kaunda, however, pointed out that a similar initiative to try to organise the industry has failed several times.

“The bee council is there and registered, but what is required is to re-activate it. Vending is high on the market. We need structured markets so that farmers are not exploited,” said Kaunda.

He gave background on the development of a commercial honey sector in Malawi, which started in the late 1980s by the German Agency for Technical Cooperation, (GTZ)-sponsored Malawi German Beekeeping Development Project (MGBDP). He said MGBDP project concentrated its activities in the Northern Region and for over 10 years, promoted the adoption of top-bar hives, facilitated the organisation of clubs, offered training in production and processing and helped establish revolving funds for equipment purchase.

“The Beekeepers Association of Malawi [BAM] was set up to facilitate marketing and to enable beekeepers to negotiate better prices for their honey. Unfortunately, BAM collapsed just a year after its inception due to mismanagement and this had a severe negative impact on beekeepers’ access to markets,” he said.

Kaunda said bee-keeping farmers require modern equipment, yet they cannot access loans to buy equipment. “The cost of inputs for beekeeping is mostly too high for most beekeepers. There is need to empower beekeepers through the provision of soft loans to enable them procure starting and working capital that will assist them to make bee-keeping an attractive occupation,” he said.

In an interface with some bee-keeping farmers from Traditional Authority (T/A) Mtwalo in Mzuzu ADD, they pointed out that deforestation is having serious implications on the honey industry. “A lot of forest reserves, mountains and riverbanks have been stripped off their vegetation denying bees of pasture for breeding,” said Jester Kalua. “But we hope that the trees that we have allowed to regenerate will create a favourable place for bee-keeping.”

Harrison Njobvuyalema, member of the Chitu Honey Cooperative in Kasungu, also noted that most beekeepers in Malawi are unable to access modern beehives and harvesting paraphernalia, particularly harvesting suits, smokers and mechanical honey extractors due to lack of access to soft loans. “As a result, beekeepers resort to using inefficient traditional harvesting methods, which are cheap and destructive to the environment. This affects the quantity and quality of honey produced and this maybe the reason why honey production in Malawi is very small and of poor quality,” he said.

Wizzie Mhone of T/A Mtwalo also pointed out that technical training in bee management for bee-keepers should be extended to small-scale bee-keepers in the rural areas to increase honey production in Malawi.

“In addition, access to financial and material loans should be available to them. Apart from increasing production, this will also ensure that good quality honey is produced,” she said.

From the farmers’ explanations, it is therefore, important to recognise that the honey sub-sector is facing certain key challenges and constraints, which need to be resolved if the full potential of apiculture is to be realised in the country.