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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Amudat district in Karamoja sub region has the potential to produce up to 50 tons of honey annually.
Honey production has been changing fortunes for residents in Amudat district who initially relied heavily on cattle keeping and subsistence farming. For the last two years, production has increased thanks to support from district production office and Nabuin Zonal Agricultural Research Development Institute.
Robert Kimania, the District Production and Marketing Officer Amudat says the district has been producing about five tons of honey every year. However, the production had been multiplied fourfold, to 20 tons annually, over the last two years.
Kimania says that Honey production fetches between 500,000 to 10 million Shillings for a farmer in just one season. He explains that 600 bee farmers across the district can produce up to 50 tons in a year.
The figures come at a time of unveiling a 3.9 billion shillings project named the Market- Oriented Rural Enterprise for Honey, MORE- Honey, which was unveiled in Amudat this week.
The MORE-HONEY project seeks to promote the development of an equitable honey value chain through working with 2,000 farmers’ in four districts to improve the quality and quantities of the honey they produce. It will be implemented in the four districts of Kitgum and Lamwo in the East Acholi region and Amudat and Nakapiripirit in the Southern Karamoja sub-region.
The four- year project is funded by the Danish International Development Agency-DANIDA under the Danish Market Development Partnership and implemented by Self- Help Africa as the lead and Non- commercial partner and Golden Bee’s Limited as a local partner.
With the boost, Amudat and other districts are expected to increase income security, spur growth and decent employment supported by quality honey and hive products.
Engorok Obin, the Country Director of Self- Help Africa says that the honey produced in Amudat district is ranked among the best across the continent. He says their engagement in the production of honey is envisaged in building capacity of farmers to earn bigger in apiculture.
Ahmed Maruti, a bee farmer in Amudat Town Council says that apiculture, a venture he undertook four years ago has transformed his life, and he is now involved in cattle trade and construction work, among others. Maruti, now keeping 120 beehives observes that although honey production is demanding, it pays off.
State Minister for Karamoja Affairs Moses Kizige says that the honey production in Amudat should transform the communities and influence them to move away from dependency. He acknowledged that the quality and quantity of honey in the district commands a sizeable market across the region.
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