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Beekeeping and income generation

Beekeeping can be a lucrative income-generating activity which is an important reason for promoting it. Although annual incomes between $200 and $1000 are sometimes quoted, there are a number of things to take into account when looking at income generation from beekeeping which makes quantifying the profitability extremely difficult.

For instance:

The skill of the beekeeper is of major importance;
Some places are more suitable for beekeeping than others;
Honey harvests can vary from year to year;
Poor colonisation and absconding must be taken into account;
Some species and races of bees are more productive than others;
The scale of the activity is critical to the amount of money generated.
The costs that beekeepers will incur in establishing the activity
The value of any environmental benefits such as increased crop pollination of better forest production should also be taken into account.

The financial input for beekeeping using top-bar hives or frame hives is high. The average extra harvest, the difficulties of colonisation and the risks of absconding do not usually justify the initial investment. Some projects seek to reduce the costs by subsidising these hives in some way. However, one important question has to be answered, "Can a farmer continue improved beekeeping in the long run completely without outside financial aid?" If the answer is 'no' the project is not supporting an economic undertaking and is unlikely to be sustainable.

A beekeeping programme can focus on improving traditional beekeeping. In the flagship North West Bee Products enterprise, 95% of the honey is harvested from bark hives located in the Miombo forests of Zambia and it easily meets international standards. It is important that harvesting and handling is carried out carefully to ensure the honey is not contaminated or adulterated after cropping. Beekeepers are trained to select high quality combs that can be sold and separate them from the lower quality ones for home consumption or local sale. They extract honey from the comb at home using simple equipment such as cloths, buckets and sieves and clean and care for harvesting equipment to make sure the extraction process does not permit any contamination of the honey.

When starting any kind of business enterprise it is important to do some planning first. Ask lots of questions. For instance:

Are there resources for honey production and is access to these available?
Are the skills available? Is there local knowledge from other beekeepers or a training scheme nearby?
How much will equipment cost and how long will it last?
Can a start be made without borrowing money? Borrowing money for beekeeping is rarely economic and can leave some producers in greater poverty than they started.
What is the honey market like? Who is buying and at what price?
What scale of production is required to meet income aspirations or market conditions?
Can the honey all be sold locally or do wider markets need to be sought?
Is there transport for this? How much will it cost?
What kind of packaging is needed? Are local sales through traders or will it need a market stall? Write everything down into a business plan before deciding to go ahead.
Can an income be made from producing secondary hive products, beekeeping equipment, selling bees or making value added products such as cosmetics or candles.

One of the most frequently asked question is about sending honey for export into the European Union. It is rarely worthwhile trying to tap into European markets if a reasonable local market is available. The commodity prices for honey are not normally high enough to be more profitable than local or regional markets, especially after investment costs have been deducted. The costs of complying with European residue monitoring legislation are very significant. In addition, a minimum consignment would be a container load which would be around 18 tonnes of bulk honey and this relatively small amount would only be viable if specialist Fair Trade or Certified Organic marketing schemes were accessed. These also incur significant annual compliance costs. Before entering on this kind of investment it would be essential to finding a reliable buyer within the EU.

Local markets may be expanded by gaining a supermarket contract or seeking out higher value shop outlets. Frequently, there is a lively regional demand for honey while Asian and Middle Eastern markets are frequently easier to access the US or EU markets and may be worth investigating through local business people with connections into these communities. Entry into any large scale market will require a means of ensuring high quality honey free form dirt, contamination or adulteration while small quantities of honey will need bulking or consolidation of honey into larger quantities so a reliable supply can be made available throughout the year. A reliable supplier offering high quality honey that they can guarantee is pure, wholesome and clean will win customers who continue to return to buy more honey.

List of Articles available on this topic (108):

Title	Author
A plain language guide to the National Beekeeping Programme of Tanzania	Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism
Adventures in Beekeeping - Ratanakiri, Cambodia	Peterson, S.
African Bee Product Company Wins Prize
African honey trade workshop (no.81)	Bees for Development
Agri Ministry moves to expand honey production	Myers, J and Turner, R
Apicultural Reference Books for Developing Countries	IBRA
Apiculture and poverty alleviation in Cameroon	Fombad, E. E. & Nuesiri, E.O.
Apiculture and poverty alleviation in Cameroon part 2	Nuesiri, E.O. & Fombad, E.E.
Apis cerana provides a living in the Yunnan Mountain Area of China	Ken, T., Danyin, Z. & Shaoyu, H.
Appropriate Technology for Profitable Beekeeping in the Philippines - A Feasibility Study with Experience from Southern Luzon and Mindoro	Karlsson, T. & Svensson, B.
Baseline Studies on Honey Sub Sector in Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and 3 Northern Regions	Subbey, V.
Bee Keeping and Honey Production: As a Business in Bujawe-Hoima	Tropical Bee Keeping Institute
Bee product diversification and value addition	Bees for Development
Bee-keeping in Afghanistan leaflet by Afghanaid	Afghanaid
Beekeeping and Plantation Agriculture: Alternative livlihoods for farmers	Abila, N.
Beekeeping as a Business	Jones, R.
Beekeeping development using value chain approach in Fogera district	Gebey, T.; Berhe, K.; Hoekstra D.
Beekeeping Development with Apis mellifera in the Philippines	Wendorf, H.
Beekeeping Development:Honey for the Hajj: Afganistan	Davey, Christopher
Beekeeping for income generation and coastal forest conservation in Tanzania	Lalika, M.C.S. & Machangu, J.S.
Beekeeping for income generation and costal forest conservation	Lalika, M.C.S. & Machangu, J.S.
Beekeeping for people living in countries under stress: Afghanistan	Dr Nicola Bradbear
Beekeeping for poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation	Mwakatobe, Angela R. ; Machumu, Raphael, M.
Beekeeping in Greenland	Hertz, O.
Beekeeping in Trindad and Tobago 1901-2010	Gladstone Solomon
Beekeeping in Uganda	Dgaba, M.?
Beekeeping Technology	Tew, J.
Beekeeping, poverty alleviation and forest conservation in Imadiala, Madagascar	Russell, R.Y.
Beekeeping, poverty alleviation and forestry conservation in Imadiala, Madagascar	Russell, R.Y.
Beekeeping: A practical guide for southern Africa	Marchand, D. & Marchand-Wayne, J.
Bees and their role in forest livelihoods: a guide to the services provided by bees and the sustainable harvesting, processing and marketing of their products	Bradbear, N.
Bees as a Development Resource in Sub-Saharan Africa	Corner J
Bees in the miombo	Madeleen Husselman, Moira Moeliono and Fiona Paumgarten
Bees, Biodiversity & Forest livelihoods in the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve	Bees for Development
Beeswax Candles	Clair Waring
British People in Development	ODA
Burma Beekeeping News 1988
CABESI - a multi-faceted, self-help project	Gloor, R. & Thomas, H.
Camaroon Honey Chain Value	SNV
Caribbean Update : Guyana	Bees for Development
Caribbean Update : Haiti	Caron, D.
Communication: a key to human development, the role of communication, communication in practice, a new agenda	Fraser, C. & Villet, J.
Development of beekeeping in Laos - various strategic choices	Sengngam, B. & Vandame, J.
Economic returns from beekeeping	Bees for Development
Export of Honey from South Caucasus Countries Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to the EU	Bees for Development
Fifth Caribbean Beekeeping Congress in Guyana
Finding funding - preparing a project proposal	Bradbear, N.
Forest honey in Zambia	Bees for Development
Giving Back to the Bees: Donate to Projects Close to Your Heart Part 1 of 2	McNeil MEA
Governing Forest Commons in the Congo Basin: Non-Timber Forest Product Value Chains	Ingram, V.
Grenada\'s beekeepers and their golden honey	Diana Yohannan
Haiti Beekeeping Project	Sterk, B.
Home and Away: Adventures in Beekeeping in the UK and Africa	Home, John
Honey - a product of value in Southern Sadan	Lowore, J. and Bradbear, N.
Honey and beeswax value chain analysis - Ethiopia	Agonafir, J
Honey flows upwards across China	Tang-Dong, J.
Honeybees in Mountain Agriculture	Partap, U.
Honeyhunting in Bangladesh	Svensson, B.
Household Poverty Reduction through Beekeeping amongst Uganda Rural Women	M R Ogaba
ICIMOD\'s Indigenous Honeybee Programme Extends to Afghanistan	Ahmad, F. & Partap, U.
Improving Livelihoods through Community-Based Beekeeping	Partap, U. & Min B. Gurung
innovations in revival strategies for declining pollinators with particular reference to the indigenous honey bees	Partap, U.
Instructions on bee-keeping	Ghosh, C.C.
Integrated Value Chain Development as a Tool for Poverty Alleviation in Rural Mountain Areas	Hoermann, B; Choudhary, D & D, Kollmair, M.
Low Productivity in East African Beekeeping
Making local beekeeping sustainble in Sierra Leone	Aidoo, K S
Malawi honey sub-sector analysis: initial report	Kadale Consultants
Malawi success stories	Gregory, P. & Ngalonde, W.
Management of Philippine Bees	Cervancia C.R: Fajardo A.C; Manila-Fajardo A.C; Lucero R.M.
Micro-enterprises in sustainable beekeeping development	Lohr, W.
Microfinance and forest-based small-scale enterprises	Food and Agriculture Organisation
National Strategy & Programme of Action for the Development of Apiculture Sector in Uganda (2001 - 2005)	Uganda Honey Bee Keepers Association
New Beekeeping Opportunities for Small Holder Farmers
New Low-Cost Soil and Cement Products (incl Hives)	A.A.U.
One hectare of land gives 1,000,000 Indian Rupees per annum	Jamwal, N.
One hectare of land gives 1,000,000 Indian Rupees per annum	Bees for Development
Overseas Aid: Afghanistan
Peace Corps Volunteer in Zaire Known as \"The Bee Charmer\"	McCarty J
Plan Bee; linking Kenya beekeepers to the market.	Baiya, H. and Nyakundi, B.
Policy and Processes that Enable Honey Export	Sharma, HK; Partap, U; Gurung, Min B
Practical Beekeeping - Body Cream using Beeswax	Ndichia, F. A.
Practical Manual on Beekeeping	Gupta, JK; Sharma, HK; Thakur, RK.
Pro-Poor Chain Development for High Value Products in Mountain Regions: Indian Bay Leaf	Choudhary, D; Pandit, B; Kinhal, G; Kollmair, M.
Project News - A cross-sectoral approach to beekeeping support	Hausser, Y. & Savary, J.
Quality Assurance for the Honey Trade in the Hindu Kush Hiamalayan Region	Partap, U., Gurung, M. & Joshi, S.
Real Aid: A Strategy for Britain - Report of the Independent Group on British Aid	Elliott, C. et al
Report on the activities of the Bee Department at Pulawy (Poland) in developing beekeeping in some developing countries	Zmarlicki, C.
Serbia	Pedrag Cvetkovik
Small-scale woodland-based enterprises with outstanding economic potential: the case of honey in Zambia	Mickels-Kokwe, G.
Southern Sudan: Beekeepers survey report	Mogga, J
Stakeholders share hive technology experiences	Dickson,B.
Starting with Bees: An Introduction to African Beekeeping	Nazzi, F., Annoscia, D., Del Fabbro, S., Del Piccolo, F.
Stingless Bees: Importance, Management and Utilisation	Aidoo, K., Combey, R., Karikari, A. & Kwapong, P.
Student\'s beekeeping project empowers Peruvian indigenous group	Laskowski,T.
Study on Traditional method of keeping Indian honey bees in Burma and keeping with modern method	Maung Maung Nyein
Sweet, sticky and sustainable social business	Ingram, V. and Njikeu, J.
Sweetening Livlihoods	Underdown, D.
Taking stock & projecting apiculture value chains into the future in West and Central Africa: Win wins for livelihoods & conservation?	Verina Ingram
The BIA beekeeping programme in Panga, Kurigram district: a small evaluation
The potential of the beekeeping industry in enhancing rural household incomes in Botswana	Lepetu, J.P. Thelo, O. and Sebina, N.V.
The value of Apis cerana beekeeping for mountain farmers in Nepal	Ahmad, F.; Joshi, S.R.; Gurung, M.B. & Bhatta, C.R.
Tingku - a traditional management technique for Apis dorsata in Indonesia	Hadisoesilo, S
Top-Bar Hive Beekeeping: Wisdom and Pleasure Combined	Mangum, W.A.
Transferring colonies of Apis cerana to frame hives	Fajardo, A. & Cervancia, C.
Uganda Honey Trade Project	Bees for Development
Union of Beekeepers Associations of Republic of Srpska
Women beekeepers in Calakmul Mexico	Aguiree, R.D. & Pasteur, K.
Zoom in on Liberia	Aidoo, K.

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Beekeeping and income generation

Bees for Development
Information Page