By Joshua Kato
According to Alice Kangave, bee keeper and former Entomologist at the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), Apiary and bee keeping trainer at the Harvest Money Expo, can be practiced from anywhere in any space. In Uganda, apiary is practiced across the country including the east, west, north and central regions. For a starter, all you need are 10 beehives.
From the 10-20 hives after one year, each can produce at least 10-20kgs of pure honey, which translates into 100-200kgs per year. At sh15,000 per kilogram at farm gate price, this translates into sh1.5-3m from the 10 hives. In fact, you get back the total investment after just one year. And yet, input in form of labour is low. Bees have few predators and are not attacked by diseases so you do not need to buy medicines for them. A bee hive remains colonized for as long as its structure is still right. Bees multiply and create new ones often. A hive can last for as many as 10 years as long as it is properly maintained.
Costs of the enterprise
Depending on where you get them, this can cost you at least sh100,000 for each KTB hive or sh1m for 10. Langstroth cost sh200,000 each or sh2m for 10. Local hives cost as low as sh40,000. If you do not have enough space, you can set up stands with each taking 3 or 4 hives.
For the 10 hives, it means that you need only 3 stands. To construct these wooden stands, you need spend less than sh100,000 for all of them With these in place, the other requirements include a bee-keepers suit which costs sh150,000. This is worn by the bee keeper during supervision/harvesting.
You also need a bee smoker at sh50,000, a hive knife sh10,000, a bee brush at sh10,000, a honey harvesting pail at sh20,000 etc. Overall, with sh2.5m one can start a modern 10 -20 hive apiary enterprise.
Selecting an Apiary site
-Water availability; bees need water to thrive in their business of producing honey. Make sure that there is a water source within a radius of 500 metres. Although bees are known to travel for over 5km looking for water, the nearer the better. If there is no water source, you can put up your own water sources, in small saucepans or pails near the apiary site.
-Good flowering plants; Bees make honey from nectar. The sources of natural nectar are mainly flowers. This is therefore why it is important to have flowering plants near the apiary. These can be coffee, mangoes, maize, bananas, calliandra, Eucalyptus, simsim plants etc. If there are no flowers, set up water drinking points on plates near the hives. You can mix sugar in the water. Bees will pick carry it and use it to process honey.
-Have shade over the hives; bees do not like direct sunshine. Therefore, this is why you must select a site that has trees to create a shade. Direct sunshine makes the hives too hot for the bees to live in. If the location has no trees, you can elect shades over the hives to reduce the impact of the sun on the hives.
-Do not locate your hives under fruit trees that normally drop ripe fruits on the ground, for example mangoes. When the fruits ripen and drop on the ground, they attract all kinds of insects that eventually enter the hives and affect the bees.
Maintaining the apiary site to keep off pests
Keep the trees for the shade well- trimmed to reduce incidences of pests. Do not let grass over grow the hives because this attracts pests and predators into the hives.
Carry monthly checks on the hives to lookout for infiltration by insects because they chase away bees and stop them from processing honey. If a hive is infected by other elements for example bee bettles or termites, you need to decolonize it by removing the queen bee and put it in another clean hive and clean it.
Dealing with bee pests
There are a wide range of pests that attack bees, reducing honey production. Some of these are insects like termites, hive beetles, termites, weaver ants, bee hornets and wasps, while others are reptiles or mammals like the mongoose. To prevent these attacks, a farmer must carry out various interventions.
-To stop bee hornets, look for their nests near the hives and destroy them by digging them up if in ground or cutting down the trees/stumps were they are
-To stop termites apply burnt engine oil on the hive stands in order to stop them from climbing up.
-To stop rats from going into the hives, make sure that the top cover of the hive is well set because that is where they pass to access the hives. You can also use a heavy object, placed on top of the cover to keep it in position.
-To control wax moth, use improvised bottle traps with vinegar and water. Plastic mineral water bottles can do. The moth will be attracted into the bottle and it will not come out. Vinegar is available in most super markets.
Harvesting quality honey
By the eighth month of setting up the hives and colonization their honey to harvest in the hives. However, it is advisable that a farmer takes at least 12months before the first harvest. This helps the honey to mature. There after the first harvest, you need to follow the flowering period of crops and trees in your area. Bees stock a lot of honey during the flowering period which means that you need to harvest soon after the flowering period. You can harvest twice or three times a year.
-For proper harvesting, you need a bee-keepers suit, which prevents bees from stinging you. This includes a suit and gloves. A set costs sh80,000-sh150,000.
– You need a smoker to scare off the bees, a bee knife to help pull out the combs. It is advisable to harvest in the evening because bees are less aggressive at that time. Smoke the hives entrance and sides before opening and harvest only sealed /capped combs. All these cost sh150,000
-However, do not remove a comb that is mixed with young bees (broods) or pollen because this means that you are killing young bees and besides, that honey is not good.
-After harvesting, put the combs in a clean bucket (s).
-You can either use a honey press to get honey from the combs. Honey presses are sold in agri-inputs shops starting from sh400,000 onwards, depending on capacity.
– Or, let the honey drip slowly from the combs into the bucket, though this may take some days, it is the best way to get the purest honey. After this, the honey should be ready for consumption.
– You can also process the bees wax and sell it separately. Heat a clean saucepan and then add the beeswax and watch carefully as wax melts down Remove it from the fire immediately after the last lump of wax has melted.
– Pour melted beeswax into the mould and place in a cool, dry place to cool.
– Remove the cakes of beeswax next morning.
-The dark material collected at the bottom can be removed with a knife and can be sold to a shoemaker/shiner for enriching the shoe polish . The clean raw beeswax is ready for the market.
