Africa-Press – Tanzania. RESIDENTS in the Lake zone regions have been asked to engage in beekeeping as one of major economic activities that can boost their family incomes.
Mwanza Regional Forest Service (TFS),Assistant beekeeping Officer, Mr Chrisman Joseph said during an exclusive interview with the ‘Daily News’ that beekeeping is one of the income generating areas that are yet to be fully exploited. Mr Joseph said the demand for honey is high across the country.
“The demand for honey is huge and our main job is to make sure we encourage people to join beekeeping so that they can meet the demand,” he said.
He said the market for honey is very large and the challenge is low production, saying statistics show that in 2019/2020 Lake zone regions produced only 900,000 tons tonnes of honey.
He said the neighboring Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda heavily depend on honey supplied by beekeepers from Lake Zone regions.
Mr Joseph further disclosed that in the Lake region alone there are more than 100 groups that are involved in beekeeping and honey processing activities.
Mr Joseph said some districts in the Lake region engage in beekeeping and that their performance has been improving gradually. He mentioned the districts as Biharamulo (Nyakanazi), Geita, Butiama and Luhiga Forests.
Mr Joseph said Tanzania Forest Fund (TFF) has been assisting in disbursement of funds for funding beekeeping projects.
Mwanza Regional TFS Publicity and Extension Officer, Mr Pius Mbilla said they will continue to train people to focus on bee keeping on how to use modern technologies.
He urged residents living in forest areas to ensure that they focus on beekeeping activities. He said beekeepers in most areas in Lake Zone have been using old methods in beekeeping activities, including setting fire during honey harvesting.
