Honey for Sale!

Blog by Chris Keywood

Posted: 1 October 2024

For more than 30 years Bees for Development has been helping people to improve their livelihoods through beekeeping. For many this starts with the basics, learning to make hives from the materials available, attracting a swarm, managing an apiary and finally harvesting honey. Once a harvest is completed and there is a bucket of delicious honey sitting by the door, then what?

A lot of the work that Bees for Development does is centred around getting that honey to market and establishing or growing the supply chains.

Assefa Endeshaw showing his newly carved log hives ready to be placed in the forest

In Anderacha, in the South West Ethiopia Peoples Region we are working with cooperatives to increase the value their members receive from their forest beekeeping. The high mountain forests of this region are under threat from timber cutting and forest clearing to grow crops. By increasing the value of the forest beekeeping, we are able to provide incentives for the beekeepers to better protect their valuable forests and reduce the need to turn to alterative, more destructive sources of income.

This region is well known for its special Geteme honey that the bees create with nectar from the Schefflera abyssinica tree. This thick white honey, which has a natural texture similar to that of creamed honey, is highly sought after and can often sell for a higher price than other honeys.

This means that the honey market in Anderacha is a dynamic and complex space, with exporters and local traders, both formal and informal, vying for the best prices and quality honey they can get during spot sales at the end of the harvest season. This often leaves forest beekeepers struggling to keep up with the ever-changing prices and demands.

Assefa Endeshaw demonstrating how a skilled beekeeper can climb high trees with only a rope, in order to pace and manage their beehives.

Honey sacks stored in the house of Deneke Diyachewu, awaiting a change in market prices so they can be sold.

Wendimagegnehu Sahilemariam of Bees for Development Ethiopia tasting some of Deneke Diyachewu’s Geteme honey.

Bees for Development is working to strengthen these cooperatives in order to help their members protect the forest they keep their bees in.

We are doing this in a number of ways. Through the creation of long-term relationships with honey buyers we are creating a consistent market for the honey, reducing the need for the cooperatives to have to search for new honey buyers at every harvest. This reliable relationship also allows for feedback to be given to the beekeepers on the quality of their honey and support in improving it from a buyer who has a vested interest in these beekeepers.

This ongoing relationship will also help the cooperatives to better understand the needs and requirements that their have and improve their ability to come to the negotiating table on an equal footing and get the best possible price for their beekeepers.

By introducing our traceability and quality assurance system the cooperatives are able to better identify issues when they arise, target training to specific beekeepers based on their needs and prove the authenticity of their honey allowing this information to be sold along with the honey also help improve the price the cooperatives can negotiate for.

Through strengthening supply chains, we are able to better help beekeepers improve their livelihood and protect their forests.

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