African Honey Bee 4 Cash

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African honey bee for cash
By S.E.C. Eleke
   

The African Honeybee is a potential money spinner. Apiary or bee-keeping is cost effective, less demanding of land space and time. It is adaptable to our local environment, Above all, an investor could start with N60, 000 with the possibility of earning about N3 million annually.

Apart from honey, there are other derivatives from bee viz: bee wax, propolice and bee venom.

Uses of products
Medicinal cough syrup, bee wax candle, bee wax based on propolice are among the products obtainable from processed honey.

In modern agriculture, bees pollinate crops such as mangoes, avocadoes, apples cucumbers, water melon, carrots and cabbages among other plants. These, if added to the revenue accruable to the farmer from honey and other derivatives, speak volumes of the enterprise. From field reports, there is practical demonstration and evidence that when bee-keeping or apiary is combined with plantation farming, there is about 80 per cent reduction in flower abortion and crop yield has increased to about 200 per cent. This has made the use of chemical to control flower abortion unnecessary.

Markets
Honey is used for a variety of things: as a drug and in medicines such as expectorants, as beverage and as sweeteners for those who abstain from sugar consumption. It is used to preserve the living and the dead, eaten in various forms by the living and used to embalm the dead.

   

In an organised system of apiary, the farmer in an area can increase his/her yield via avoidance of flower abortion by renting bees from other farmers for the purpose of pollination.

Profit
There is unlimited market within the country and abroad for processed honey. Two Israelis who visited Nigeria recently revealed as follows: David Gertial said:"You have the most ideal conditions for bee-keeping either as hobby or as commercial venture". His reasons are based on this premise: There are abundant flowers, fantastic weather, two high seasons (when you can harvest honey) and Nigeria is free from every known malady of bee-keeping worldwide, which Nigeria can exploit.

Another Israeli-Ami Maimise said that bee venom, a derivative of honey alone, sells for about $10,000 per gram. Gertial added that he alone produces between 600 and 700kg of bee wax every year.

Bee wax is used for making cosmetics and candles. Gertial said further that he has about 700 beehives and that honey brings over $10m to his country from the activities of apiary operators in his country. His government realizes $10m (US) dollars as taxes from apiary operators. That is, in the desert land of Israel. On the home front, it is not difficult to establish and sustain an apiary since the farmer does not have to be around all the time. The investor could embrace this proposal as subsistence, commercial or industrial operator. Complete guidance on establishing an apiary and running it profitably is available


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