Photo action @ the official commissioning of Jigawa state Seeds Centre at Birin Kudu. The centre is a partnership venture of the state and Federal government at the initiative FAO in 2008 visit.

   SSG of Jigawa- State  Alhaji Adamu Abdukadri Fanini being welcomed at the commissioning by Ps. Agric, Dr Mohammad Idrith Danzomo and JASCO GM, Alhaji Hassan Idris Girbobo.

Cross section of the stakeholders present at the event .

FAO backs community seed production urges Act Passage.

The Food Agriculture Organization (FAO) has supported the use of community based seeds to curb adulteration in the system just as it urged the Federal Government to ensure the passage of the revised seed Act without any further delay saying this would enable more effective running of the industry by the private sector.

 

FAO’s Country Representative in Nigeria, Ms Louise Lobisa gave the advice at a stakeholders’ consultative workshop in Abuja. She said that the passage of the revised Seed Act would help develop the private sector and the community-based seed systems and by extension guarantee food security in the country wondering why the Act is still being held in the Federal Ministry of Justice after many delays with the legislation before approval.

Ms Louise Lobisa said that the essence of the workshop is aimed at designing a draft strategy that would strengthen and support private and community seed operation in the country adding the farmers need to know the importance of using improved quality seeds for agricultural production while government should face the business of efficiency system in the country.

She stated  that FAO was interested in building the capacity of government institutions with seed certification, seed quality, upgrading skills as well as strengthening agro-based laboratories as they are ready to make sure the private sector  playing its roles in the seed system in Nigeria pointed that “  seeds should not just be made available, but those, who are providing the seed should also make profit and make a living out of it”

Dr Okelola Oluwole, FAO Consultant and agricultural economist in his lecture “Draft Strategy to Strengthen Private Sector and Community Seed Systems” said that the country had witnessed the collapse of many seed companies.

He said “after witnessing collapse of many seed companies as far as 1984, but the number increased from 36 in 2011 to 164 in 2014.Certified seed production rose from 6,109 tons in 2012 to 149,844 tons in 2013. Access to credit by seed companies increased from N1.8 billion in 2012 to N6.02 billion in 2014. Seed distribution by companies also rose from 9,455 tons in 2011 to 59,000 tons in 2013”

AGRA ready to enhance Nigeria agricultural policy with MIRA

In its effort to ensure African countries’ agricultural policies to be friendly to private business investment, the Growing Africa’s Agriculture (AGRA) has initiated Micro Reforms (Policy, Regulation and Law) for African Agri-businesses (MIRA) towards achieving this objective in about five nationals including Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burkina, Faso and Ghana.

 

 Head of Policy Advocacy AGRA Mr. Boaz Black Keizire  said MIRA is one of the key flagship program of Agra which its overall vision is to achieve the year  2020 access to market and finance through spending more time on building partnership with the public and private sector.

MIRA was to find solution that will help African countries to increase private investments in small and medium sized agribusinesses operating in smallholder agricultural value chains.

In its meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria last month, the agricultural stakeholders from both the public and private brainstorm on the ways to better enhanced the present agricultural policy towards attracting more private sector investment of private business in Nigeria.

 

The meeting which syndicates into groups that looked to areas of challenges that need to be enhanced which includes fertilizer/agrochemicals, seed, supply chain and logistic, food processing/value addition, and Agricultural Finance was able to exhaustively come up with proffered solutions.

 However the representative of the Permanent Secretary, Engineer Jato  said that  the lunch of “Mira will create more jobs for out youths and make farmers richer and this will entails  government working more on suitable policies that will be environmental friendly for private sector investment” 

Dr Tony Bello, a special adviser to former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Adesina hailed the involvement of MIRA being initiated by AGRA saying it is a five years initiative meant to provide African government with access to high quality local and international technical assistance for identifying, prioritizing and reforming scientific agricultural regulations that always deter  private investment in small and medium scale business.

  

He attributed  policies summersault  and unregulated environment as challenges being faced by the Agribusiness in Nigeria saying that “ the security of raw material, lack of government coordination and inconsistency of regulation, tax policy, infrastructure, human capital, land and finance are serious hindrances  to the sector”   While Dr. Tony pointed that  enabling reform on innovative financing for agriculture, full scale implementation of seed and fertilizer policy regulation and law, dry season farming and irrigation farming at scale will change the face of agricultural practice in Nigeria.

Nigeria has been selected as one of the countries for MIRA project support. The MIRA is a demand driven which required that Nigeria must come up with its challenges that stakeholders identified as hindrance to private sector investment in agric business.

Dr Tony Bello said Agra is implementing the Mira project, which is a five years initiative to provide African government with access to high quality local and international technical assistance for identifying, prioritizing and reforming scientific agricultural regulations and currently deter or limit private investment in small and medium scale business.

 He further said  policies and regulatory environment constrain are the problems faced by the Agribusiness in Nigeria such as, the security of raw material, lack of government coordination and inconsistency of regulation, Tax policy, infrastructure, human capital, land and finance. Ha added that enabling reform on innovative financing for agriculture, full scale implementation of seed and fertilizer policy regulation and law, dry season farming and irrigation farming at scale.

Alhaji Tafida a stakeholder present at the meeting noted that Mira is a gap filling procedure and a way to improve African agriculture, which will also help tap round livestock, stressing that 75% of annual produce is a byproduct will help in feeding the livestock, instead of allowing them graze across the country which is current giving security issues in the country.

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE INAUGURATION OF THE FEDERATION OF BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (FEBKAN) BY THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT, MR. BIDEMI OJELEYE, ON 30TH JULY,2015 AT THE NICON LUXURY HOTELS ABUJA.

Bee

 Today marks an anal in the history of Nigeria with the official inauguration of three formidable agricultural commodity associations by the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment. This is a landmark in the quest to diversify the economy of Nigeria from the present oil dependent economy that rely on revenue that accrue from sales of crude oil that is at present not attractive in terms of earns.

The clarion call to develop other viable options aimed at saving the country from the present economic regress is germane to having sustainable livelihood that will be facilitated by massive empowerment/employment that will be created with the development of the various agricultural commodities.

Benefits of keeping Honeybees

Apiculture, otherwise known as bee keeping is simply the art of raising honeybees for man’s economic and health benefits. It involves the use of modern practice of management of honeybees for the production of their highly desirable products such as honey, comb/beeswax, pollen, propolis, be venom, royal jelly and pollination services.

Like all other agriculture endeavors, beekeeping is not only a noble and economically rewarding vocation. It is also a very viable economic pursuit undertaken all over the world. It is therefore, an important aspect of modern agriculture any developing economy can ignore to the detriment of its general well being. The potential beekeeping offers to agriculture, in terms of providing employment, improved nutrition and income generation in developed and developing countries is substantial.

To the common man, it is very difficult to understand the real value of bees, beekeeping and honey production to development. Historically, it has been proven that man from time immemorial has reaped the benefit of bees; for instance, King Solomon of 1000BC said “…my son, eat honey, because it is good and the honey comb which is sweet to Thy taste”. Also the Glorious Quran has a whole chapter dedicated to the bees (Surat Nahl, Chapter 16). The virtues of honey in preventing many of the worst disorders in the cure of several others have been testified globally. 

The global demands for all bee productions cut across religious and cultural lines. The curative ability of honey as a potential germ destroyer with renowned antiviral, antifungal, antiseptic and antibiotic activities, as well as, anti-inflammatory qualities attracts customers to the products. In medicine, topical applications of honey under controlled conditions have shown accelerated wound healing in animals, burn wounds and post-operative wounds in humans.

The domestic demand for beekeepers’ honey remain amazing as nearly every family is becoming interested in honey consumption; even at a high price provided purity is guaranteed. Bee farming also provides people that take beekeeping as secondary occupation with extra source of income and nutrition and can generate foreign exchange earnings, thus is a sustainable form of agriculture. More so, the practice is not detrimental to the environment, since it helps in the regeneration of forest resource, reclamation of eroded land and pasture improvement.

Wax from the honeybee has an extremely wide spectrum of use applications and occupies a very special position among waxes. Beeswax for centuries, before the advent of petroleum-based waxes, was appreciated as the best material for making candles. Ancient jewelers and artisans formed delicate objects casted in precious metal from beeswax. Furthermore, the colors of ancient wall paintings and icons containing beeswax are reported to have remained unchanged for more than 2000 years and the wrappings of Egyptians mummies for over 1000 years. The beeswax has long found use in medical practice and the cosmetic industry, as they are used in compounding creams and lotions. Of all the primary bee products the beeswax has been, and remains, the most versatile and most widely used product.

 Beeswax is also useful in the traditional textile industry for making batiks, while in the pharmaceutical and medical lines it is used as a coating for drugs or pills, to facilitate injestion but retards dissolution of the enclosed compounds until they reach the digestive tracts. Beeswax can also be prepared as a mixture with various drugs and it functions as a time release mechanism, ensuring the release of the drug over a longer period of time. In horticulture, a mixture of one part melted beeswax with one part of resin and enough lard or tallow to a pliable finely ground charcoal may be added to protect the wound against sunlight, is especially with grated surface and crops.

The royal jelly is another important product of beekeeping. It is secreted and fed directly to the queen or the larvae. The only situation in which royal jelly harvest becomes feasible is during queen rearing, when the larvae destined to become queen nees are supplied with abundant royal jelly. The hormonal effect of royal jelly is responsible for the enormous fertility of a queen genetically. An invitro study has confirmed that IO-hydroxydecanoic acid in royal jelly has a thermo stable antibiotic activity which decreases with improper or long-term storage. This has worked against Escherichia coli, Salmonella proteus, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus, Fungi and viruses.

Propolis is another major product obtained from beekeeping. It is formed from mixture of  various amounts of beeswax and resin collected by the honeybee from plants, particularly from flowers and leaf buds. 

This product is useful in the extension of frozen fish storage life by 2-3 times and post-harvest treatment and conservation of fruits. The dermatological and cosmetic applications are probably the most common uses for propolis and its extracts. One of the most widely known and extensively tested properties of propolis is its antimicrobial activity. A positive synergistic effect has also been reported for propolis extract and various antibiotics. It has been proven that propolis extracts are more effective than commercially available drugs.

Pollen is frequently described as the “only perfectly complete food”. High performance recorded by athletes substituting on pollen are suggested as being informed by the “miracle food”, just as the “busy bee” represents a role model for an active and productive member of society. The only long-term observations on the medicinal effect of pollen are related to prostate problems and allergies. A few clinical tests in Western European countries have shown pollen to be effective in treating prostate problems ranging from infections and swellings to cancer. There is also some evidence that ingested pollen can protest animals, as well as, humans from the adverse effects of x-ray radiation.

Beekeeping is always associated with bee stings. The sting may be painful with both local and systemic effects. The correct placement of injections, or stings and the dosage are very important in its therapeutic use. Therefore, the bee venom therapy must be properly learned. For instance in the Republic of China, bee venom therapy is combined with the knowledge of acupuncture by many hospitals, and relief of some ailment are obtained by simply applying a bee sting or two to the affected area. This led to the formation of a society for api-acupuncture in Japan in 1980. Similarly, bee venom therapy popularly called BVT is currently in use in Romania to cure HIV/AIDs.

Bee venom has also been of benefit in tracing a large number of ailments. This therapeutic value was already known to many ancient civilizations. Today, the uses of bee venom are in human and veterinary medicine. Bee venom has long been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of various kinds of rheumatism. The protective value of bee venom and militating against the lethal or damaging effects of x-rays has been investigated. 

It is a known fact that agricultural growth and crop productivity largely depend on bee pollination services that have ecological and agricultural values. As we also know, the global business of honey industry contributes to over $200billion to the global economy through crop pollination, production of honey, beeswax and other beehive products. Out of this, Africa gets a teaspoon i.e. less than 10%, while the potential of the sector is frighteningly huge. It is therefore worrying that Nigeria has failed to tap on this important and strategic industry to generate food, employment, environmental conservation and diversification of exports especially at their period of the nation’s economic predicament.

Challenges and Prospects of Beekeeping in Nigeria

The present economic challenges in Nigeria call for a serious sustainable environment-friendly agricultural enterprise with a great potential that improves export earnings. It is pure fervent believe that this program will enhance the contribution of the apiculture sector to its sustainable human development and specifically increases the income of beekeepers and traders of bee products through improved commercialization of quality bee products in Nigeria which will in turn lead to a drastic increase in the GDP of the nation.

Challenges of Nigerian Beekeeping Industry

The major constraints facing the Beekeeping Sector in Nigeria are:

ü  Lack of Formal Beekeeping Policy And Law

Beekeeping should be recognized as a viable agricultural enterprise by formulation of a Beekeeping Bill of Right which should take into account the roles of inter-sectoral cooperation and coordination for the enhancement of environmental conservation and development of appropriate indigenous beekeeping technology popular to beekeepers and friendly to the environment.

No doubt, there is high competitiveness at the international markets for honey and beeswax in terms of quality. The roles being played by National Agency for Foods and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is commendable but there is still need for directives which will have to be strictly adhered to by all people handling the honey before it reached the customer especially during harvesting. These legal directives need clear mission and vision of the Beekeeping Policy concerning development and control of quality standards for honey.

Nigeria is one of the few countries of the world that still enjoy clean environment and this extends to our strain of bee. In line with Banjul Bee Declaration, beekeepers should be discouraged from importing used equipment and bee colonies due to various bee diseases. Thus legal regulation for controlling importation and exportation of honeybees is inevitable. Such legal regulations must be based on a sound Beekeeping Policy which encourages research and development of  indigenous honeybee species.

ü  Lack of effective Beekeeping Extension Services

Beekeeping extension services are not effectively reaching the beekeepers, processors of bee products, manufacturers of beekeeping equipments and business people involved in buying and selling of bee products. As a result, the goods and services of beekeeping sector are still low in quantity and quality; the number of beekeepers is still small thus the national production of bee products less than 5% of production potential; about 98% of beekeeping activities are carried out by mostly hobbyists while participation of women and the youth is low or non-existent in some areas of the country due to beliefs that beekeeping is sacred.

 Another reason why women and youth are not actively participating in beekeeping is the stinging behavior of the honeybees and lack of knowledge about the use of bee protective, management techniques coupled with inadequate public awareness on bee products-based industries which could employ many people and improve their socio-economic development.

ü  Lack of Adequate Statistical Information to Guide Plans and Operations for the Development of The Beekeeping Sector

The importance of statistical information for sustainable development of the sector is in the areas of attracting and giving confidence to potential investors guiding the preparations of bankable beekeeping programs and projects which can attract provision of credit facilities for beekeepers, processors of bee products, manufacturers of bee equipments and traders of the products Information on bee resources which exist in the various ecological zone in the country is not readily available. Other important data for guiding plans and operations include:

o   Colony productivity in terms of bee products per session per given type of hive

o   Prices of bee products in local and international markets

o   Prices of bee equipments in the various beekeeping areas

o   Annual National production and export figures of the bee products

o   Contribution of the beekeeping sector to the GDP

ü  Lack of Knowledge for Adequate and Appropriate Processing and Storage Facilities for Bee Products

The quality and quantity of honey reaching the costumer is dependent on the quality and conditions of the processing and storage facilities

ü  Lack of Transport Facilities for Beekeeping Extension, Production and Marketing Services

This problem has a negative impact on attraction women and the youth to join beekeeping distribution of goods and services.

ü  Lack of Efficient and Effective Marketing of Bee Products

Field surveys revealed that there are huge amounts of honey and beeswax which beekeepers found difficult to push to the market due to lack of efficient and effective marketing system. This frustrates beekeepers and potential ones. Establishment of bee products commodity board to mop up beekeepers’ productions is necessary.

Prospect of Beekeeping in Nigeria

The overall goal of the National Beekeeping Policy is to enhance the contribution of the beekeeping sector to the sustainable development of Nigeria and the conservation and management of her natural resources for the benefits of present and future generations. The sectoral objectives are derived from the macro-policies of the country as well as from the beekeeping sectoral problems and opportunities. Objectives for the beekeeping sector are as follows:

ü  Ensured sustainable existence of honeybees by maintaining and effectively managing adequate area of bee reserves

ü  Improved quality and quantity of honey, beeswax and other bee products and ensured sustainable supply of the same

ü  Enhanced beekeeping – based national development and poverty alleviation through sustainable supply of bee products (honey, beeswax, royal jelly, propolis, brood, pollen) and services

ü  Improved biodiversity, increased employment and foreign exchange earning through sustainable bee products-based industrial development and trade

ü  Ensured ecosystem stability by practicing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and carrying out

ü  Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for investment inside or around Bee Reserves and Apiaries; and

ü  Enhanced national capacity to manage and develop the beekeeping sector in collaboration with other Stakeholders.

Conclusion

The value of beekeeping is as sweet as honey itself, not minding other valuable products such as  beeswax, pollen or otherwise known as bee bread, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom, apilarmil and apilanil prop, which are derivable from keeping bees.

Long live Federal Republic of Nigeria

Long live Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment

Long live Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

Long live FACAN

Long live FEBKAN