Uganda has enormous potential for bee-keeping. Forests provide an excellent forage habitat and there are many bee forage plants in the country.
Coffee, tea, pulse, oil seed, maize, sorghum, fruit, vegetable and spice crops grown in Uganda also provide useful forage for honey bees. Bees have various advantages.
They pollinate crops and thus help increase yields.
There is high demand for honey locally, regionally and internationally.
Propolis, which is collected from plants by bees to cover the inside of the hive, treats many ailments.
Pollen, which is collected from plants by bees to feed their larvae, is used in the perfume industry, and is a food additive and a medicine.
Royal jelly, made by young bees from gland secretions and fed to the queen to make her strong, also has medicinal properties.
Bee-wax is used in cosmetics, candles and polishes.
Bee-keeping has low start-up costs and occupies little land space.
About 80% of honey consists of sugars that are readily absorbed by the body. It is suitable for children, sick people and those who perform heavy manual tasks.
Choosing the right hive
Local woven beehive. This is cheap and easy to establish, is made from local materials and produces more propolis. But it produces little honey and the quality can’t be controlled because the combs with brood can’t be separated from the honey combs.
Top-bar hive. It can be made with local materials, is easy to inspect and controls swarming. The quality of honey can be monitored, yields are 20kg-40kg annually and have a lifespan of 10 years. However, they are more expensive than the local ones, difficult for small-scale farmers to acquire minimum economic number (about 10 hives), while predators and other insects can easily access them because they are hung low.
Langstroth hive. Combs with brood (young bees) can be easily separated from combs with honey; yields are between 50kg-60kg per year and the quality of honey can be monitored.
