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