The Gojjam Berenda quarter of Addis Ababa’s Mercato neighborhood is famous for, among other things, its many honey retail stores. A single store space here is typically partitioned and shared by several traders, who offer ‘raw honey’ packaged in traditional ox-hide bags (silicha) or in large plastic bags, organized into low-lying piles on the floor.
One afternoon earlier in May, two women walked into one of these shared retail spaces looking for some high-quality honey. One of the traders there, a client of theirs, told them he would give them a call when he got his hands on the type of honey they were searching for. He assured them the honey was on its way, though he did not specify where from, and that it would be arriving in the capital soon.
The women left; they have received reassurance. He would set aside the honey for customers he holds in such high esteem. Ordinary customers make do with adulterated honey, which is often mixed with sugar or other additives to lower costs and inflate volume.
People engaged in mainstream honey production and marketing in Ethiopia know very well that the country is cutting hefty losses in revenues to a muddled, unregulated, and untraceable contraband honey trade. They just cannot say how much.
RELATED POSTS
Contraband is rampant and much of what the country of 120 million people produces, the much-coveted organic honey and beeswax, is going out in illicit cross-border trade with buyers in Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia, according to the head of the Ethiopian Apiculture Development Association, Alemseged Gebrekidan.
“It’s very regrettable that our country, known for producing some of the best honey in the world, has not been reaping the benefits in terms of revenues,” he told The Reporter.
The sector is beset with contraband and adulteration, he said. “Due to adulteration, there had been times export consignments were returned from abroad.”
According to him, there were those who even mix honey with ground silica and syrups.
Ethiopia is recognized as one of the largest honey and beeswax producers in the world. The country ranks first in Africa, and 10th in the world in terms of production volume. However, industry experts and regulators say the standing does not translate to revenues due to a number of constraining factors.
“In 2011, Ethiopia produced 54,000 tons of honey,” said Azeze Ayalew, head of the team tasked with overseeing apiary resource development at the Ministry of Agriculture. He described it as an “apex” performance in modern Ethiopian apiculture development.
According to Azeze, the country exported a dismal 876 tons that same year; and the figure dropped even further to a measly 50 tons a decade later.
“Rampant contraband trade,” he said, “is causing a significant loss of revenue in honey sales as countries like Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia are receiving Ethiopian honey delivered to their doors via contraband. They used to buy from us.”
He pointed to marked differences in retail prices between the domestic and black markets.
“An exporter would want to secure a kilogram of honey from the local market for 250 to 300 birr. But illicit traders buy from household producers at up to 600 birr per kilogram,” said Azeze. He observes the proliferation of contraband trade has handicapped law-abiding exporters, leading to successive weak export performances despite an overall growth in annual honey production over the last couple of years.
Azeze sees that exporters cannot hope to make a profit in the honey trade as international prices hover near four dollars a kilo, significantly lower than what the contraband trade can offer retailers here.
Alemseged concurs. He calls on the pertinent government agencies and other stakeholders to work towards the adoption of legislation that would streamline honey and beeswax production and trade in the country. A bill that would do just that is in the pipeline, tabled to the Council of Ministers for review.
“Honey production is increasing markedly,” said Azeze. “Last year, production volume stood at 194,000 tons. This year, the plan is to achieve a total production volume of 207,000 tons.”
The first nine months of this fiscal year saw 190,000 tons produced, according to him. He expects the figure to rise to as high as 230,000 tons by the end of the year.
Azeze attributes the growing production volume partly to government efforts in the beekeeping industry.
“The political leadership is getting directly involved,” said Azeze. He was referring to the ‘Limat Tirufat’ campaign launched a couple of years ago by the Prime Minister in Arba Minch.
This initiative is a sort of community mobilization effort that seeks to engage 20 or more youths in rural villages in managing 10 or more beehives. It translates to 200 or more beehives in a single village. Azeze disclosed that 512 villages have been signed up thus far, two years into the lifespan of the initiative.
The goal, according to him, is to include 10,000 in the coming two years. It would mean more than two million beehives spread out across the country.
Azeze said that one million modern beehives are set to be distributed among youth in rural areas of the Oromia Regional State this year alone.
In the past, the nationwide beehive distribution performance had never go up above 500,000, according to him.
Production volumes vary from region to region across Ethiopia, he said. In central Ethiopia, a modern beehive can produce up to 30 kilos of honey, while apiaries near Jimma can produce as much as 40 kilos per beehive. The figures rise to 50 kilos in places like Metu and Southern Ethiopia.
The volume reaped from traditional beehives is significantly lower than from modern ones, with the average traditional setup yielding a maximum of 11 kilograms per hive.
“Some of the other factors behind the recent increase in the volume of honey produced in Ethiopia relate to seasonal management as farmers are receiving training and follow up enabling them to reap honey and beeswax three or four times a year: in October, December, March, May and June. Nectar producing vegetation is also being planted, particularly in areas near river basins,” said Azeze.
“Even so, we are way behind. The country only manages to produce 30 percent of its potential,” he said, adding the plan is to achieve 70 percent. “The involvement and role of the private sector in honey production and trade is also growing.”
Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine and the US are among the major destinations for Ethiopian honey.
“The problem is much of Ethiopia’s honey is going out to these and other countries carried by individuals as part of their luggage,” said Azeze. He recommends the introduction of a weight cap on honey being transported in luggage.
Traceability, according to him, is also compromised by the absence of legislation regulating the industry, as well as rampant contraband trade.
“Unless a bill regulating production and marketing of honey and beeswax is introduced, much of the country’s honey will continue to be laid to waste,” said Azeze.
In a paper dubbed ‘Partnership Ready Ethiopia: Honey and Beeswax’, Global Business Network (GBN), a German establishment program, stressed that despite the demand for Ethiopian honey in export markets, actual exports are very low in relation to annual production as well as in terms of market share in target markets.
Pricing is mentioned as one major factor.
“Domestic pricing generally being significantly higher than for export markets. Furthermore, the requirements for quality control, traceability and certifications needed to access international markets may well be considered as additional burdens that do not pay off considering the low export market pricing,” reads the paper.
Ethiopia, according to GBN, has an estimated 10 million bee colonies, of which a little more than half are man made hives, while the remaining are wild.
Azeze observes Ethiopian honey is also high quality as bees are not made to feed on artificial or adulterated food sources.
“Our honey products are the organic type as they come directly from what the bees suck up,” he said.
According to him, Ethiopia produces monoflora and multi-floral honey with equal measures. The former category includes honey made from nectar extracted from a white flowering shrub in Tigray, as well as niger seed plants, eucalyptus, coffee, and other botanical sources across the country.
“Ethiopia needs to go beyond honey and beeswax production to honey enzymes, pollen and especially royal jelly – a jelly that only queen bees feed on and have anti-ageing characteristics when consumed by humans,” said Azeze.
Domestic Market
GBN estimates that Ethiopian beekeepers consume 10 percent of their total production, with the remainder up for sale as a source of income. The report indicates that the majority of the latter category is sold for the production of tej, traditional Ethiopian mead.
Azeze, however, begs to differ.
“Tej brewers largely use melted sugar (syrup) and not pure honey in Addis Ababa and surrounding areas. They use highly adulterated honey for tej. Yes, local consumption may be roughly 10 percent of total production, but that cannot be described as being high,” he said. “In fact, Ethiopian families keep honey for events and celebrations to consume honey, and of course they at times treat their guests with honey. Farmers’ children get the taste of honey only on reaping days. They don’t have that luxury of eating honey for breakfast. Many families use honey to remedy illnesses.”
GBN estimates that tej brewers use up between 50 and 80 percent of total honey production. Still, the paper notes that “estimates may be incomplete due to claims of informal export of honey to Sudan, Somalia and Djibouti. A significant volume is also taken out informally through the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in people’s luggage, especially for the diaspora markets. Smaller volumes are processed – usually at smaller scales – into table honey for sale in shops and supermarkets in Addis Ababa, generally being brought to the capital in relatively small quantities that have been bulked from rural areas.”
The organization indicates a range of business opportunities within the honey and beeswax industry in Ethiopia that are of potential interest to German and other European companies including “…import of EU-accredited bulk honey for table use, opportunity to develop fully branded table honey in jars for the domestic markets through retail supermarket and hotels, opportunity to develop mono floriculture honey for import to Germany and Europe, including specialist white honey, and opportunity to develop scale imports of industrial honey for import to Germany and other European markets.”
Ethiopia needs to tap into these and many other foreign markets and export opportunities by enhancing the honey export sector, according to the head of the Ethiopian Bee Development Association. Alemseged calls for the government and other stakeholders to provide due support to Ethiopian exporters of honey, including the facilitation of bank credit.
As things stand now, exporters are very much discouraged, and bold measures need to be taken to disentangle honey production and marketing, he argues.
“Promotional activities should be scaled up while products are mainstreamed to the central domestic market for auction sales, much like coffee and sesame are being traded,” said Alemseged.
While, it can be debated whether the government ought to go big on honey and beeswax production and trade, it is clear that Ethiopia needs to streamline and regulate its honey production and export trade.
The proven potentials in honey would only be meaningful if tapped ingeniously and in ways that benefit all people across the value chain, starting from farmers to collectors, wholesalers, and retailers. The government must, however, work to end the illicit cross-border trade that floods neighboring countries with the much looked after delight, medicine, and food that is honey.
Azeze emphasizes that the production of honey and beeswax (as well as other byproducts) is only a small part of the benefits that humanity reaps from bees.
“Bees are crucial to maintaining ecosystems and biodiversity as major pollinators. They are top contributors in crop resource development, too,” he said.
He uses a less publicized quote [reputedly by Albert Einstein] about how significant bees are to life.
“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
May 20 marks the UN-designated World Bee Day, and the intent, according to the UN is “to raise awareness of the importance of pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development.
“The goal is to strengthen measures aimed at protecting bees and other pollinators, which would significantly contribute to solving problems related to the global food supply and eliminate hunger in developing countries,” it says in a brief description posted on its official webpage.
“Bees and other pollinators, such as butterflies, bats and hummingbirds, are increasingly under threat from human activities,” it says. Pollination is, however, a fundamental process for the survival of our ecosystems. Nearly 90% of the world’s wild flowering plant species depend, entirely, or at least in part, on animal pollination, along with more than 75% of the world’s food crops and 35% of global agricultural land. Not only do pollinators contribute directly to food security, but they are key to conserving biodiversity.
This year’s World Bee Day is marked under the theme: Bee Engaged with Youth.
