AFRICAN HONEY TRADE WORKSHOP Bees/o/Development Journal 81

AFRICAN HONEYTRADE WORKSHOPOver one hundred participants from fourteen countries attended the AfricanHoney Trade Workshop that took place at Seeta, near Kampala, Uganda inOctober. For four days African honey producing and trading businessesconsidered challenges that face honey trade in Africa.

BeesforDevelopment organised the Workshop in partnership withUganda's Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF)and Uganda's national beekeepers organisation TUNADO.

The need for development of honey trade towards poverty alleviation wasemphasised by The Honourable First Lady of Uganda, Mrs Janet MuseveniMl? who graciously opened the Workshop. It was encouraging for theWorkshop to receive such high-level support, demonstrating thatapiculture is recognised as a mainstream economic opportunity withsignificant potential. The Workshop was featured on Uganda news media.

The principal workshop sponsor was Rowse Honey Ltd and it was theirsupport and foresight that made the Workshop possible. Additional

Hsors were the DFID Business Link Challenge Fund, and the Nationalultural Advisory Service of Uganda.

The aims of the Workshop were:» to engage with experts on topics relevant to increasing trade in African

honey» to formalise the emergent honey trade forum as a vehicle to promote

African honey.Presentations therefore covered exportquality criteria; the requirements ofhoney buyers; trends in regional andinternational honey markets; organic,fairtrade and EU certification, andsupply chain management.

Sell locally or aim for export?Many speakers reminded theWorkshop that export is not always thebest idea. The domestic and regionalhoney markets are currently under-saturated in countries such as Kenyaand Uganda, where urbansupermarkets, hotels and other retailoutlets provide opportunities for honeysales. The advantages of sellinglocally include:

Ms Mary Chelimo. of Baraka,Kenya makes her point

» lower marketing and transaction costs

» less stringent quality criteria

» less stringent certification requirements

» easier to sell without any special marketing approach

» fewer consequences if supplies are erratic

» small volumes are acceptableThe main issue is for the producer group to be governed by a businessmodel based on calculating the profit margins of different marketingstrategies.

In summary, it is important for any honey business to know the market andmake a rational decision about the markets for which to aim. Statistics forhoney trade in Africa - even the formal trade - are difficult to obtain, butanecdotal evidence suggests that domestic demand for local honey isincreasing and sales are rising. For many producers there is no need tothink of export.

Honey exportFor those who plan to export, Peter Marshall from the Workshop sponsors,Rowse Honey Ltd., presented the company's expectations from any honeybusiness wanting to supply Rowse. He emphasised the skills required oftraders, from being good communicators - to meeting EU legislation toenable traceability of every drum of honey. Peter explained that RowseHoney markets two categories of honey: blended'and speciality. Specialityhoneys are those of specific floral (e.g. Acacia, Citrus, sunflower) orgeographical origin (e.g. Greek mountain honey), and those with specialcertification such as organic or fairly traded.

African honey, sold as a generic blended honey, is unlikely to compete onprice with honey from major exporting countries like China and Argentina.Production systems, distribution and handling in Africa are not as efficientor streamlined as in major exporting countries. This is because Africanhoney is produced at household level by thousands of small and scatteredproducers. Costs of distribution and supply chain management mean thatAfrican honey can compete only as a speciality honey. This is not badnews: honey from Africa is special and should be valued and traded assuch.

For example, Tropical Forest Products Ltd, a UK company, sells Zambianhoney in the UK, explaining to consumers how the honey is produced inbark hives hung high in trees, and describing the skill involved inharvesting the honey from these precariously placed hives.

Participants emphasise the constraints faced by African honey traders

Producer groups that are certified according to criteria set by the FairtradeLabelling Organizations International Association (FLO) may sell honeylabelled with the FLO logo. Rowse Honey Ltd is looking for FLO-certifiedAfrican honey, because this is an important way to increase themarketability of a honey. Another Ell-based honey buyer at the Workshopwas Maya Fair Trade, a Belgian ethical-trading company, selling onlyFLO-certified honey, but yet to find a source in Africa.

Fairtrade certificationDay 2 was dedicated to exploring fairtrade certification. The presentationsand discussions revealed that for beekeeper groups to achieve FLOcertification is not straightforward. This is because FLO standards do notapply in situations where a trader buys honey from individual beekeepersor small, informal groups. This business model cannot be FLO certified.FLO certification can be achieved only when beekeepers are organised intoformal, democratic producer associations. This is achieved, uniquely inAfrica, by North Western Bee Products in Zambia. To achieve this level oforganisation requires considerable input, support and capacity building,and FLO certification can only become cost effective for a producer groupif their profit margins will cover the cost of annual certification. Only alarge association, like NWBP with 6,500 members, is able to enter intothis process.

An example of an enterprise with social conscience that does not fit theFLO certifiable business model is Bee Natural Products in Uganda. Thecompany is buying honey from individual beekeepers and small informalgroups, and investing in good producer-buyer relations, including capacitybuilding, input provision and training, but the model is non-certifiableaccording to existing standards.

Bees/f)/ Development Journal 81 AFRICAN HONEY TRADE WORKSHOP

Organic certificationOrganic certification is another way to add value to African honey andcreate a special product. Unlike FLO certification, there are several organicstandards. For honey to be sold as organic within the EU, it must complywith EU organic standards that have been created for European beekeeping,and may be difficult to apply in Africa. This area requires dialoguebetween European certifiers and African beekeepers - to understand whatan appropriate application of organic standards can look like. For example,most organic standards of European origin call for a map of the apiary. Inan African context, this is almost impossible, as hundreds of local-stylehives are placed in trees and forests over many hectares of land. Anotherexample is the eating of bee brood: this is common in some societies as itis recognised as a food source, while organic standards call for nodestruction of brood. Interestingly on this point, Ulrich Broker of APICON,Germany, explained that the eating of brood would probably be acceptableto organic certifiers as long is it is consumed for nutritional reasons andnot commercial reasons, which provided an interesting insight into theorganic philosophy. Another organic specialist, Haike Rieks, from EPOPA,Netherlands explained that organic standards in an African context can bemisinterpreted. For example, she had known African certifiers disqualify aproducer due to their proximity to heavy traffic. In fact, the road saw lessthan 20 cars each hour, which by local standards was heavy - but notrelative to the meaning of the European standard.

Special African honeyIt is easy to becomefocussed on certificationand meeting standards,and perhaps lose sight ofthe real situation.

While FLO and organiccertification are difficultto achieve, the reasonsare not necessarily thatthe honey trade isunethical, or that honey iscontaminated withchemicals. On thecontrary, both theselabels, even if achieved,undersell the specialqualities of Africanhoney. The Workshop

learnt that Tropical Forest Products Ltd sells Zambia honey to a highlyprestigious retailer on the merits of high quality alone: it is the story ofthe Zambian honey that features on the attractive packaging, rather thanthe FLO or organic labels (even though the honey is fully certified).What does this tell us?

Ms Tecla David from Mozambkdiscusses her honey business

Trade in African honey brings economic benefitsto the rural poorThe FLO fairtrade standard refers to a number of issues. The producersreceive a minimum price that is above the world market price (currentlyUS$1.8-1.95 per kg), and with the premium to be spent on socialdevelopment projects. The FLO emphasis is to support a process ofproducer empowerment and this is manifested through theestablishment of democratic farmer organisations.

In fact, African honey is rarely produced by farmers who are organisedand empowered in this way: nevertheless Bees for Developmentbelieves that African honey is a highly ethical product with veryimportant pro-poor benefits. These are:» Honey is harvested by some of the poorest and most vulnerable

households, and sales bring income into their homes, and is spenton necessities such as school fees and medicine

» Beekeeping is accessible to the poor as there are no high start-upcosts. This means that beekeeping can be without the risk of debt

» Beekeeping is undertaken by the young and old, men and women: itis a gender inclusive activity

* Beekeepers produce products (honey and beeswax) that require IU&further processing. Therefore, they should capture relatively mor™the end value of the final product.

» Honey has multiple market opportunities. If an export marketcollapses, people can still sell or use the product within towns andvillages at home, or eat it. This is unlike other commodities such ascoffee or vanilla.

Group discussions concerning the need fora trade associatior.

The Rt Honourable Serapio Rukundo Minister of Tourism, Trade &Industry, assisted by Ms Haike Rieks, presents a certificate to Mr BobMalichi of North Western Bee Products, Zambia

More ecological than 'just1 organic!An organic certificate, if achieved, tells only a fragment of the storyabout the environmental benefits of African beekeeping. This is why:» Bees are indigenous and a natural component of the local ecosystem,

and they contribute to biodiversity through pollination.* Bees in most of Africa are disease free, which means that no

medicines are used to maintain bee health - quite apart from the factthat poor people could not anyway afford them.

» Beekeeping causes no disturbance to the natural environment.Compare this to a tea estate, which even if certified organic, hasinvolved replacement of natural vegetation with an importedmonoculture.

• Beekeeping creates an economic incentive for rural African people toconserve natural vegetation. This is good news. Imploring people toconserve forests for non-tangible benefits is usually a non-starter.Compare this with earning an income, through beekeeping, fromnatural forest ecosystems.

AFRICAN HONEY TRADE WORKSHOP

Ridar Hotel, near Kampala was the Workshop venue

Honey is wonderfulHere at Bees for Development we do not know of any other commoditywith international market value that can be more ecologically beneficialthan honey, more natural and with more pro-poor credentials, withimplications for thousands of the most vulnerable households in Africa.

Fairtrade honeyDuring the 1970s, the local government of Oaxaca State in south-eastern Mexico trained farmers, mostly indigenous people, inbeekeeping to help them to generate some income and so to maketheir way out of poverty. However, the only buyers they had for theirhoney were coyotes - unscrupulous intermediaries who paid verylittle, or nothing at all.At the end of the 1980s, some of the producers formed an unofficialunion, which eventually became the Miel Flor de CampanulaCooperative. In the nineties, they became FLO-certified and wereable to find markets for their products by selling withoutintermediaries. Since then, Flor de Campanilla has built anenterprise which sells 60 tonnes of honey a year to internationalbuyers. Flor de Campanilla is one of the 13 honey co-operatives inMexico that are currently Fairtrade-certified. For these and others inArgentina, Chile, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Zambia, Fairtrade hasopened up opportunities in a difficult market environment.

is not traded on the stock exchange. The price depends onproduction costs, different climate and vegetation zones, and

the yield per bee colony. Therehave been fierce price battles onthe market for honey that resultedin beekeepers being hardly ableto live from their income on theconventional market.In this economic environment,Fairtrade guarantees stability forhoney producers through aMinimum Price. Hallowsproducers to cover their costsand contributes to more securityfor the beekeepers and theirfamilies.

Number of certifiedfairtrade honey producergroups per country

Argentina 1

Chile

Guatemala

Mexico 13

Nicaragua

Zambia

Producer groupsBeesfoA Development is committed to helping beekeepers indeveloping countries find markets for their products. We areendeavouring to forge contacts between producer groups andpotential buyers. If you represent a producer group with significantvolumes of honey or beeswax for sale, then do contact us.

AcknowledgementsBees/or Development would like to thank Rowse Honey Ltd, UK, theDFID/Business Link Challenge Fund, UK and NAADS Uganda for theirsponsorship of the African Honey Trade Workshop.We acknowledge also the kind permission given by FLO International eVto use information provided inthis article. See more atwww.fairtrade.net

ApiTrade AfricaThe idea to create an association for African honey traders first aroseat Bees/or Development's First African Honey Trade Workshop, held inDublin in 2005, and was progressed further at this Workshop. Africanhoney producer groups and traders are confident that through co-operation and collaboration, some of the challenges facing their honeybusinesses will be overcome. The main aim of the emergentassociation, named ApiTrade Africa, is to promote African honeywidely, break down barriers hindering access to global markets, andultimately unlock the potential of the apiculture industry for the goodof poor people in Africa. A Task Force of 12 people/organisations(including BfD) was elected and an internet-based discussion groupis underway. The plan is for ApiTrade Africa to make its first publicappearance at the Apimondia Congress in Melbourne 2007.

Sales volumes of fairtrade-certified honey per country in2004/2005 in MT

2004 2005

Austria 4 4Australia/New ZealandBelgium 73 63

CanadaDenmarkFinlandFranceGermanyIrelandItaly

41052

335

102

12

11

66

362

0

70

JapanLuxembourgMexicoNetherlands 51 49

NorwaySwedenSwitzerland 396 385UK 208 296USA

Total 1240 1330

More informationThe Proceedings of the First Workshop in this series, held in Dublinin August 2005 are available - see page 14.The Proceedings of this second Workshop and details about ApiTradeAfrica will be posted at the Beesfor Development website shortlywww.beesfordevelopment.org