HONEY BEES AS FOOD, HEALTH AND WEALTH PROVIDERS

Human’s attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in particular, those goals on poverty alleviation, health and food security may perhaps be a Herculean task to accomplish except we give premium awareness to the important supportive roles of honey bees in MDGs.

To the uninitiated honey bees are insects to be feared, run away from or killed at the slightest encounter before they sting. But apiculturists (bee keepers,) scientists and nutritionists through practical demonstration, on-going research and breakthroughs are daily exposing our collective ignorance of the values that bees can add to our life. The growing interest in bee keeping especially in developed countries is indicative of the health potentials and hidden treasure of these social insects that are still minimally discovered here in Nigeria.

Apart from the indispensable role of honey bees in agriculture, horticulture and pollination, apiculturists keep bees in small or commercial quantity for food and economic products derived from bees which include honey, beeswax, bee pollen and propolis. These environment friendly products are of immense health and commercial values and a source of family income in many homes globally.

Take for instance; honey nourishment value in human diet is yet to be surpassed by any food or food supplements. Honey derived from bees consists of 80% simple sugars (fructose and sucrose) that are readily absorbed by the body. Components of natural honey from bees include: water 17-18, fructose 38-39, glucose 30-32, sucrose 0.5-1.0, other sugars 9-10, protein 0.5-1.0, energy 318-321Kcal and trace minerals, vitamins, amino acids and enzymes.

Apart from its direct food values, natural honey is also used in confectionery as sweetener, in the homes as first aid treatment for cough and other throat ailments, and as preventive or curative for several ailments such as measles, gastro-intestinal disturbances and diarrhea among other mild ailments. Because of its very high dietary value and safety, honey is now widely consumed in many homes in preference to refined sugar that has been proved to have side effects which can be injurious to human health. Honey can be taken alone in small quantity, or added as sweetener to food like soaked garri, tea, cooked beans and added to kids food ration always.
Honey is predestined by God for the use of man. What apiculturists are doing is to bring the complete knowledge of bees to the fuller understanding of humans for economic and health advantage. The bible in Deut. 32:10-13 tells of how God used honey to nourish the Israelites in the desert “He found them in the desert land …. He nourished them with honey from the cliff”. John the Baptist survived on honey and locust as food in the wilderness while preparing the way for Jesus Christ, Mathew 3:4 “His food was locust and wild honey…”

With the current market price of quality honey at N1, 500 per litre, an average beekeeper with a harvest of five hundred litres of honey from his/her apiary is definitely going to smile to bank with satisfaction for good returns on investment.

Distinguishing pure honey from adulterated one has been a disincentive for consumers and potential consumers of honey because the market is flooded with impure concoction tagged honey. But according to Dr Bola Osipitan, a lecturer at the University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, (UNAAB), and a renowned apiculturist who has just organized a workshop for youth on beekeeping, honey wax processing and utilization in Abeokuta, Ogun State, identifying quality honey is essentially determined by the integrity of the source of the honey you want to buy. While admitting that the source might be imitated with label, he however gave clue on how to differentiate high quality honey that is good for consumption. These are: when a stick of matches is dipped into pure honey, it ignites when struck on a match box, when a tint of pure honey is poured into a glass of water, it does not dissolve immediately but sink to the bottom before dissolving, and of course, the taste, flavour colour and smell of honey is distinct.

Many useful medical and livestock care products have also been produced from other honeybees’ products such as royal jelly, bee pollen and propolis. Royal jelly and bee pollen have been proved by many research centers to aid fertility in humans while propolis from bees is a major ingredient in some anti-biotic drugs. At a seminar jointly organized by Feed Nigeria Initiative (FENI) and Bee Conservation Project (BCP) in 2007 in Lagos, some livestock farmers, specifically catfish and pig farmers openly gave testimonies to the efficacy of propolis in livestock fertility, reproduction and in the healing process of sick pigs.

The demand for honey and other bee products is huge and the current global and national supply is grossly inadequate hence making any investment in beekeeping worthwhile either as part or full time vocation. All it takes for you is to first develop the interest in bees as your selfless and harmless (provided you obey their rules) companions in wealth creation and raise money to set up your own apiary where you can keep your own bee hives. Watch your money grow as the bees after gathering nectar and pollen from many plants colonize your hives to deposit the valuable honey, bee pollen, proplis, bee wax and other products. According to Dr Osipitan, harvesting of honey can start 3 to 4 weeks after placing your hives in the apiary if it is during the honey flow period which varies between December and March in tropical region like Nigeria. The rest period for bees is normally the end of the honey flow and this falls between April and June while the build-up season when the broods are raised is July to August.

With just a sum of ten thousand naira to construct two hives you can start beekeeping if you have a plot of land in rural area to use as your apiary or contact a rural farmer who can allow you place your hives near his farm if it is bees’ friendly site. If you want to start on a medium scale with at least ten hives, you need up to eighty thousand naira and the profit can be as high as one hundred and thirty thousand naira at the end of the second season harvest. However, contact reputable apiculturists for guidance and professional advice for maximum satisfaction. Government, in particular, the local government can assist their people like farmers with fund to earn additional income and generate employment through conscious government interest in beekeeping. Beekeeping alone fetches the US an average of $50b annually. Nigeria can do better.

Adeola Soetan
Project Executive
Feed Nigeria Initiative (FENI)
feed-nigeria.blogspot.com
fenitiative@yahoo.com
08037207856

PASTOR T.B. JOSHUA, RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS AND FOOD SECURITY

Of recent, I watched a telecast of Pastor T.B. Joshua’s Synagogue Church on AIT. The cleric has really added some weight and his preaching imbued with more finesse compared to the last time I watched him on TV months back. The segment that really struck me in the programme was when trucks were moving into the church premises to off load tons of rice, and the pastor with his flock including nationals from other countries including Europe and America started re-bagging the rice to 25kg size with the church branded polymer bags. Pronto, the bags of rice were distributed free of charge to hundreds of the poor, to the ensemble of the physically challenged and the needy church members.

This is direct food aid in practical demonstration and a commendable step towards aiding food security. It is the most genuine of miracles. But I noticed those tons of rice were imported brands and not produced in Nigeria by Nigerian farmers or by the church. This is the crux of my discussion today: how religious organizations, particularly, those with large congregation and vast influence like churches and Islamic groups can get involved in direct food production, distribution and of course, consumption to generate employment, empower the people and advance food security in the country.

Needless to say that without food security there can never be national security, faith organizations of various hue and philosophy have a role to play without losing track of whatever they profess. Since religious organizations now invest in education, stock and other trades, investing in agriculture should not be an exception.

I grew up in a farm and church estate, Olaogun Estate, in Ibadan in the 1970’s. Owned by an uncle, Pastor S.O.Bamgbose, the now defunct Olaogun farm, which was essentially a vast poultry farm of hundreds of hectares of land, was then reputed to be the second largest farm in Nigeria, after Ashamu farm in Oyo. Although the farm was established before the church, however, the foundation of the white garment church which attracted members from far and wide helped to expand the farm and the estate tremendously as more people who came for soul deliverance were gainfully employed to work on the farm and hundreds of others settled for residual farm businesses and corresponding trading activities. The stimulating experience I gained in agriculture as a juvenile living in the estate with my parents was partly responsible for my choice of agriculture as a course of study in the university notwithstanding that I had worked for a decade as a broadcast media practitioner before proceeding to the university.

I still leave with the sweet memories of the estate’s camaraderie, of the abundant availability of chicken and eggs that families used to buy at very cheap rates, of the well fed children roaming the estate and ending up in the church in ecstasy after consuming protein rich meals that every family could easily afford. The farm, the church and the people were in harmony to the glory of God

Food security is a biological, socio-economic, cultural and political issue which cannot and should not be left alone to individuals to resolve. It is a collective responsibility of all, government, societies, organized private sectors, religious organizations, the media, NGO’s, and the global communities among the rest.

Religious organizations for example church can get involved in food production and poverty alleviation in many ways. They can acquire hundreds of hectares of farmland and distribute to members according to commodity groups. This means that the interested members are divided into areas of competence and interests such as poultry, piggery, fish farming and crop cultivation of different kinds.

With good internal administrative mechanism of the church, loans can be sought from microfinance banks guaranteed by the church, and fund can also be obtained from donor agencies locally and internationally. The church itself can go directly into mechanized integrated farming as a commercial venture and employ competent skilled and unskilled workforce from the congregation and outside the church. The church can also serve as donor/support agency to small and medium scale farmers in their midst by assisting farmers like in acquiring improved seeds and donating farm equipment. The church can as well make available soft loan dedicated to farming to members who are practicing and intending farmers. Other options can be considered to enhance food security and members’ empowerment.

Marketing of the products and profitability is not likely to pose much problem as many of these organizations have huge memberships who are potential consumers and marketers running into several thousands apart from the consuming public. Their branches can also be used as sale outlets nationwide. I look forward to see in the foreseeable future in the market farm products like ‘Winners Yam Flour’, ‘Nasfat Broilers’, ‘Redeemers Eggs’, ‘Latter Rain Catfish’, ‘Synagogue Rice’, ‘Quareb Bread’, ‘Baptist Farm Plantation’ ‘Anglican Cattle Ranch’ and Bagged Gari from Living spring among others. It would be fulfilling and Nigerians would be happier for it.

Through my programme association with the Justice Development and Peace Commission, (JDPC), I am aware that the catholic mission is effectively making use of the JDPC as an outreach to assist small and medium scale farmers in terms of inputs support, organization and extension services to enhance farmers income through higher yields.

This is the path for other religious groups to follow and do more to agriculture in order to save more souls from the pang of hunger and starvation.

Adeola Soetan
Project Executive
Feed Nigeria Initiative (FENI)
fenitiative@yahoo.com
08037207856

MASS MEDIA, AGRICULTURAL LOANS AND FOOD SECURITY

There is renewed media blitz on the availability of different forms of agricultural credit facilities to farmers in the country. These agricultural loans being advertised come in different modes from different sources. The purported loans are branded by state and federal governments, agencies and banks among others. The various credit facilities include; agricultural credit guarantee scheme funds, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) facilitated farmer’s loans, agricultural loans from the Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB) and from several state government agencies. Others are the N50 billion consolidated fund from the Bankers Committee, the World Bank assisted agric. credit programmes, etc...

Despite the good intention of these programmes, the reality is that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for farmers to access these loans. Institutionalized corruption, stringent conditions attached to these credits, farmers’ reluctance to come forward and access the facilities, farmers’ ignorance and low level of education are some of the reasons adduced for the failure of various credit schemes. Anyhow we perceive it; this inability is a setback to food security and agricultural development, and the relevant bodies saddled with the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of the various credit facilities seem unbothered or are simply overwhelmed with the intractable problem.

Each time there is a new agricultural credit programme, most farmers are always apprehensive and reluctant to believe that it is genuine or reliable partly due to their unpalatable past experiences. This difficulty is aptly captured by the former president Olusegun Obasonjo, under whose regime many agric. credit facilities were initiated without appreciable success, when he once wrote in his letter to the senate lamenting the low level of farmers’ access to the bankers’ N50 billion agricultural credit funds. He reported in September 2005 that only N7.1 billion was accessed with only 389 applicant farmers throughout the country ten months after the scheme was inaugurated.

This infinitesimal fraction of millions of credit needed farmers is indicative and instructive of the wholesale problem of agricultural credit schemes in Nigeria. The problem is complicated because no serious organizational structure is put in place to evaluate initial credit facilities before new ones are initiated and there is lack of synchronization of schemes by different loans agencies of government and private sector initiatives.

Food security is the central plank of the millennium development goal one of reducing to half the population of hungry people globally by the year 2015. It would remain a figment of the imagination for Nigeria to achieve this without sustainable agricultural development.

Availability and accessibility of agricultural credits with negligible interest rates is non negotiable for this goal achievement if we are indeed serious to join the league of MDG’s compliant nations.

Prior to the ‘70s, various regional governments initiatives were put in place to make credit available to farmers particularly the micro, small and medium scale ones to complement commercial banks, the oldest credit institutions in the country.

In 1949, the Western Nigeria Development Board took over responsibility for farm credit supply in Western Nigeria and in 1955 the Western Region Finance Corporation took over the administration of credit to farmers. The repayment percentage of 49 percent for individual loans was recorded while 64 percent was recorded for co-operatives, suggesting the desirability of lending to the co-operatives.

The Eastern Nigeria provided credit to its farmers through the Fund for Agricultural and Industrial Development (FAID) established in 1950. The Northern region administered credit by the Registrar of Co-operatives under which government guaranteed loans from the defunct Barclays Bank with the ministry of agriculture operating a credit programme through the native authorities. Over all lending to groups were more successful than to individual farmers in terms of repayment.

In 1973, the Nigerian Agriculture and Credit Bank (NACB) was established by the federal government with the core objective of providing loans for the development of the Nigerian agriculture to lend to individual farmers, co-operative societies and for integrated rural development projects. NACB was later developed into the Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank Limited (NACRDB) in the year 2000. It is a product of NACB, Peoples Bank of Nigeria (PBN) and risk asset of the Family Economic Advancement Programme. (FEAP)
World Bank sponsored Credit Scheme is another global concern for the development of agriculture in developing economy including Nigeria in the ‘80s. The Agricultural Development Project (ADP) is one of the World Bank – Nigeria sponsored counterpart programmes to organize and finance small scale agriculture with territorial specification to the local farmer needs and assistance. Spread across the states of the federation, the project collapsed mainly because of the failure of the state and federal government to fulfill their counterpart financial obligation to the project. Again the hope of agricultural transformation was dashed. The ADP remains a carcass of its glorious past today having lost steam

The Obasanjo regime 1999 – 2007 witnessed a lot of presidential initiatives on agriculture such as cassava revolution, cocoa rehabilitation programme, fadama 1 & 2 projects and various others with the intention to increase output and farmers income but as usual failed to achieve the desired results because of lack of back up credit facilities to farmers to expand business among other sundry reasons.

Nowadays it will be very difficult for any new farmers’ credit scheme to succeed and be credible notwithstanding the good intention because farmers have been disappointed and deceived several times. Many farmers’ groups have been destroyed and disbanded because of the inability of members to obtain loans despite their leaders good efforts to organize them and satisfy all conditions for credit access from government agencies, yet to no avail.
Loans to medium and small scale farmers should still be properly channeled through their associations and cooperatives in their local government areas to avoid giving money only to big time farmers, politicians and hangers on.

The mass media as watch dog should be able to monitor, not only reporting the various over publicized agricultural credit schemes, but revisit the schemes to ascertain the authenticity of the loans and verify from some of these beneficiaries, while the NGO’s in food security advocacy should monitor budget allocations and implementation on agriculture, processes of access and repayment of agricultural loans. But because of media orientation in Nigeria which gives premium coverage to politics and politicians and often ignore crucial developmental issues due to the structure of ownership and control mechanism, governments and their agencies saddled with responsibilities of developing agriculture failed woefully to deliver on their promises.

Since the right to food is fundamental human right of every one, any responsible government should facilitate the processes of mass production of, and peoples access to food and this can better be facilitated when farmers, particularly in the peasant and medium scale bracket have unlimited and timely access to revolving agricultural credit facilities with less noisy media propaganda of some of these loan programmes.


Adeola Soetan
Project Executive
Feed Nigeria Initiative (FENI)
fenitiative@yahoo.com
08037207856