Expert Explains How Farmers Can Make Money From Beekeeping, Quality Honey In 2022

Wandera says a farmer can earn a gross profit of Shs6.6m from 10 bee hives in a year

You can still make money from bee keeping without having to adulterate honey. For some reason, some honey dealers sell something next to water for honey. To some, however, it is not adulterated but poorly harvested.

Isaac Wandera, a professional beekeeper, attributes the above to poor management of harvesting equipment and harvesting unripe honey.

According to Wandera, honey harvesting requires a lot of cleanliness. He adds that honey is harvested twice a year.

However, some people harvest unripe honey which contains a lot of liquid.

Wandera says one can achieve quality honey and make money without having to harvest unripe honey or adulterate it.

Wandera, a final year student pursuing a Diploma in Bee Keeping at Nyabyeya Forestry College in Masindi district, says one can harvest at least 10 kgs of honey from one hive per harvest.

“Remember, there are always 2 harvesting seasons of honey per year,” he says, adding: “So that is 20 Kgs in 1 hive per year. So, if you have ten (10) hives, they can give you up to 200kgs of honey per year and one kg of honey is currently at 33,000.” This means that one can earn a gross profit of Shs6.6m from 10 hives in a year.

According to Wandera, beekeeping can enable young people and farmers earn good money with less input and time.

“And remember, you can at the same time harvest other products like propolis and pollen which are more expensive than honey if well processed. Propolis is sticky and bees collect it for repairing the hive but it can easily be harvested and it has a lot of medicinal uses,” Wandera says, adding: “The pollen which the bees collect in their pollen baskets on the hind legs can also cheaply be collected using simple tools. This is highly nutritious with a lot of protein and vitamins, it also cures many diseases. There is bee venom which can be collected using a bee venom extractor. This product is very expensive. Then we have the royal jelly but in Uganda, it’s very rare.”

Wandera says farmers should understand the basics of beekeeping to make money.

This explains why he is  training farmers Masindi on how best to keep bees for money.

“I am concentrating a lot in Masindi since it’s where I study from my beekeeping course, but I want to go back to Busoga,” he says, adding that he’s happy people are now seriously going into beekeeping business.

He says he does all activities concerning beekeeping starting from site preparation to marketing of bee products.

“I am  currently working in 4 apiaries of different clients. But one apiary is for a group of farmers. People were willing to venture into beekeeping but lacked guidance.,” Wandera says.

Wandera says that a farmer needs a standard equipment to use like hives, hive stands among others and also seek guidance from a professional to check for all the qualities of a good apiary.

Wandera does not own an apiary yet but he intends to start one this year.He intends to put up a training facility in Mayuge district  where he hails from.

This, he says, is because his school is currently the only institution teaching bee keeping in Uganda. So, he is set to start up a training facility for practical or hands-on training.

“Many people organise seminars but only teach people theoretical bee keeping. So I want to avail willing bee keepers with practical knowledge. All bee products starting with honey, pollen, propolis, bee venom and royal jelly will be taught to people practically at my apiary,” Wandera says, adding that beekeeping is still under developed in Uganda.

Therefore, he says that there is a need for the young people and farmers to explore the untapped potential in bee keeping.

“It doesn’t require a lot of land to start since you require only a small space for putting the hives then the bees can source nectar from the neighbourhood,” he says.

Wandera does not see life outside bee keeping.

“I intend to remain in beekeeping since it has all that I need and I really enjoy working with bees. Beekeeping is still very underdeveloped here in Busoga. I want to equip people with practical knowledge mostly,” Wandera says.