By Victoria Nampala Bugembe
Beekeeping is one of the agricultural enterprises that the Government, non-government organizations, and development partners are promoting in different parts of the country, for mainly three reasons — income generation to improve household incomes, nutrition, and protecting the forest cover.
John Kaddu, an apiary farmer in Kawempe adds that bees are best kept in natural forests or plantations, say of coffee, especially in the Lake Albert crescent zone of Uganda.
“A farmer practising beekeeping must protect the trees since they provide forages to bees,” he urges.
The most commonly harvested products from bees include honey, beeswax, propolis, queen rearing, and forage.
Apart from honey, bee venom is another lucrative product from bees.
What is bee venom?
Bee venom is made by bees and is found in the bee sting.
The poison is particularly painful on the body. Typically, bees use the venom to defend themselves, however, it can be used to make medicine.
Enock Mutabazi, apiary farmer at Kawanda in Wakiso district explains that bee venom yields higher income, compared to other bee products. A gram of bee venom is sold between sh50,000-60,000.
In addition, bee venom is produced all year round, unlike honey, which is seasonal. The venom is also in high demand by pharmaceutical industries that use it to manufacture drugs.
Mutabazi advises that farmers need to have well-sited and managed bee hives in order to have enough volumes of bees to get the needed venom.
From two bee hives, a bee farmer can get one gram of bee venom every two weeks and each gram costs a sh50,000 farm gate price but at the market, it can even be sh 60,000 depending on the location.
Bee venom is deposited by bees as a liquid on the venom collector, but it solidifies fast. It is collected as powder and measured in grams
bee venom harvest.
Kaddu explains that venom is collected using a venom collector. The venom collector is a machine that has electric shock. It incites bees to sting and consequently releases venom.
It is placed at the entrance of the bee hive and once the power is connected, an electric current is generated. As a bee enters or comes out of the hive, it is shocked and is automatically incited to sting and release venom.
The venom smell attracts more bees from the hive.
Depending on the type of venom collector used, a farmer can take between 20 to 45 minutes per bee hive to harvest venom. Thereafter, glass is removed and venom is scrapped off using a scrapper and kept in a non-transparent container.
