Globally and more specifically in Europe, Japan and the United States of America, consumers and governments are demanding high quality and healthy food. Honey is one such food product. With the spread of pollution it is becoming more and more difficult to provide these markets with adequate quantities of honey that is raw, pure and free of pollutants.
Retailers in South Africa are demanding locally produced (pure and ethically traded honey) for their private labels, but are struggling to find reliable suppliers. A recent history of government rebated cheap imported honey, created barriers of entry to honey producers, because the costs of honey production in South Africa were higher than the cost of importing it. A growing consumer awareness about the plight of the honeybee and the quality (or lack thereof) of honey in general, offers beekeepers an opportunity to compete with the imported honeys. South African consumers are also becoming more and more aware of the fact that all imported honey into SA is radurised by law, making it far less healthy than locally produced pure honey.
African rural communities often live in areas adjacent to unpolluted prime honey producing vegetation, (capable of producing organic honey) that they do not benefit from, nor realise the potential. In identifying this opportunity, African Honey Bee (AHB) has been established as a social enterprise to roll out a biblical model that provides:
Summary of the African Honey Bee Method
African Honey Bee has been exploring ways to empower potential and existing honey producers and then link them to the honey consumers, enabling all to benefit from the relationship. First a stable platform based on a “hub-and-spoke” principle is established. Profitable incubation farms are set up to produce viable volumes of honey, enabling critical mass and thereby providing partner beekeepers access to appropriate technology, infrastructure, training, quality control, logistical support and access to markets.
The incubation farms not only provide a stable platform for market off-takers that require relationships with “big farmer” type operations, but also an environment for partnering with, and incubating beekeepers.
Beekeepers that partner with AHB are provided with:
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Training, mentoring and support;
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Low cost infrastructure, equipment, consumables and logistics; and
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Off-take agreements/partnerships with large retailers.
They are incentivised to be loyal to AHB because besides receiving these services and competitive prices for their products, partner beekeepers become dividend sharing beneficiaries in the AHB Stakeholder Trust.
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AHB is able to guarantee its product quality to the consumer, because as a prerequisite for the partnership it has with its beekeepers, it requires the beekeepers to:
1) manage their bees according to the Afri-hiveTM system - a specific method of organic beekeeping that it has developed,
2) use AHB’s NektarTM management and traceability technology,
3) be compliant with AHB quality standards and
4) be managed and mentored by an AHB senior beekeeper.
Prospective beekeepers from rural areas with beekeeping potential, who are generally between the ages of 18 – 26, are recruited to participate in the AHB incubation programme. They spend between 4 - 18 months (depending on their prior knowledge and experience) in an incubation programme during which time they are officially employed by the incubator as salaried working interns. During their incubation, the interns complete an AHB developed, SAQA accredited NQF level 1 Learnership in beekeeping. They gain practical experience by working under guidance of senior beekeepers on an AHB commercial bee farm. During the incubation programme the interns are also assisted to either start their own beekeeping business on a small scale or expand their existing business, with the view of commercialising it once they complete the incubation process. At the end of their incubation, the beekeepers automatically become beneficiaries in the AHB Stakeholder Trust. In other words, they become shareholders in AHB Kruger Park (Pty) Ltd, the main operating entity of the group. Highly competent beekeepers also stand to be qualified as AHB senior beekeepers to supervise beekeeping activities according to AHB quality standards.
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A beekeeper development Trust (that owns 10% of the equity in AHB Kruger Park (Pty) Ltd) raises grant funding to provide support to partner beekeepers in the form of mentorship, training, logistics, access to low cost equipment and consumables.
AHB’s African Honey Bee Kruger Park incubator has been operating since April 2013, and is expected to function at full capacity (2 500 hives) by July 2015. AHB plans to expand its commercial operations into the 30,000 ha of Sappi owned Eucalyptus grandis plantations that it has a tender to use.
During 2013 twelve beekeepers from Vhembe municipality in Limpopo Province joined AHB as beekeeper partners and have been supplying AHB with excellent quality honey ever since. Recently 27 Vhembe beekeepers under their representative – John Mudau - sent AHB a letter requesting formal engagement and membership as beneficiaries in the AHB Stakeholder Trust.
Early in 2014, Lima Rural Development Foundation asked AHB to consult on developing a plan to revive a number of beekeeping projects on Sappi land in KwaZulu Natal.
Although AHB believes that there is potential for replicating the model elsewhere in southern Africa and the developing world, I feel that AHB needs more time to prove concept and therefore do not wish to expand before June 2015.
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Honey harvested from the incubation farms and procured from partner beekeepers, is transported to a central processing plant where it is strained, bottled, labelled, packaged and dispatched for distribution. AHB is implementing a complete traceability system under its NektarTM management and traceability technology. This will eventually allow consumers to trace their batch of honey back to the beekeeper that produced it and see on Google Earth where it comes from.
HB’s short term marketing emphasis focuses on local markets such as delis, boutique stores and independent retailers. In November 2013, the Tiger’s Eye Group signed an off-take agreement with AHB to supply their nine Kruger Park and other Lowveld stores. Ultimately, AHB intends to develop partnerships with local and international retailers, with which it can promote its honey products through telling its “good news story.” Already relationships with retailer, Coop and ingredient wholesaler Varistor, have been established in Switzerland. Locally much interest has been shown by Food Lovers Market, Dischem, Pick n Pay and Woolworths.
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