Teveta wants to develop honey industry

In a bid to develop honey processing industry in the country, the Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training Authority (Teveta) has trained 16 individuals from Mzimba and Rumphi in bee-keeping.

Speaking on Friday at the closing ceremony for the five-day training workshop in Mzimba, Teveta acting director Wilson Nkhoma said bee-keeping is important to the welfare of the people because it does not need much inputs or capital.

“All one needs is to make a box, put in wax to attract bees and process honey after harvesting,” he said.

He said the substances used in suffocating the bees are locally found and materials used in extracting honey are locally made.

“Farmers don’t need to import anything when venturing into this business,” he said.

Nkhoma said the training will also help address the demand for processed honey on the market.

“A honey producing company, Chiwogolo Apiaries Limited, has a big market which they fail to satisfy and they have assured us to buy honey from these farmers. So this is a breakthrough for them,” said Nkhoma.

The training was under the Informal Sector Training Programmes which addresses gaps in the informal sector.

Regional service centre manager for the North Conceptor Bamusi said they decided to train the participants after noticing lack of skills in bee-keeping.

“We found that the area had a lot of bee-hives without bees and unprocessed honey which was being wasted. We therefore decided to equip them with necessary skills to get the best out of this business,” she said.

The participants were trained how to make bee-hives, how to attract bees, how to process honey, among other topics.

This is the first time Teveta has trained people in bee-keeping in the North.