Nigeria is said to be losing about $10 billion over its failure to have access to the global market of honey and by-products largely due to its undeveloped beekeeping industry as the country continues to import large bee products annually.
Although bee farming is done as a commercial venture in Nigeria the country has not met the demands of the international market due its substandard system in the production and harvesting of honey and other products from bees in the country.
Gideon Dagundoro President of Grassroots Beekeepers Association of Nigeria decried this in an interview with LEADERSHIP Sunday , even as he called on the federal government to intervene; adding that the sub sector is very lucrative and has the potential to improve Nigeria’s GDP and creates the much needed employment.
He said “beekeeping is one of the most lucrative animal ventures you can think of because you can get other products from beekeeping apart from honey. You can get bee venom, bee wax, and even bee pollen. In fact honey is the least you can get from beekeeping.
“Beekeeping is the only venture you don’t need to have a big space to start, you don’t need to have a very high skill to start, and more importantly it is cost effective.
“Bee keeping is the only gold that Nigeria is yet to tap judging by its abundance. There are massive opportunities available for the beekeeping industry and it balances the ecosystem especially with the challenge of climate change.”
Speaking on the challenges facing the sector, Dagundoro said bee farmers need government intervention in terms of financial support to procure sophisticated machines to facilitate modernized systems of production, harvesting and management. He stressed that Nigeria still uses hives that are not of international standard.
“The government can get us a bee farm first. We are yet to have our honey being exported because of some conditions. The type of hives we are using is not of international standards, we need sophisticated machines to facilitate easy spinning. There are a lot of pesticides that can contaminate the honey and most of our honey is infected by pests and diseases,” he added.
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