As Useful as can Bee!

Sindiswa Teyise, proudly declares that the “bee is my boss”. However, these flying insects do not call all the shots with Teyise who manages the Makana Meadery (MM). In 2005, the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated that 71 out of 100 crop species which provide 90% of food worldwide, are pollinated by bees. With a global collapse of bee colonies, beekeeping efforts are being instituted around the world to help mitigate this “pollinator crisis”.

In South Africa, the practice of tending bees affects more than commercial food production. Rural households in particular can derive economic benefits. As we struggle to generate enough honey for domestic and international demand, beekeeping becomes an important agricultural activity to meet this export demand in South Africa. Even the by-products generated from honey production can be lucrative; beeswax, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom are rich in carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins.

MM uses the Cape Honey Bee for producing its preferred honey by-product, iQhilika, or mead, made from fermented honey and water. Since inception in 2000, MM has been producing this alcoholic beverage which takes 80 minutes to ferment and one month to mature.

The reputation of their mead is also growing abroad, with MM’s Honey Sun Mead now sold in 37 states in the United States of America (USA). For two consecutive years (2006 and 2007) MM’s African Herbal Mead won a Gold medal at the International Mead Festival in Colorado, USA. Their spicy African Bird’s Eye Chilli Mead also won a Silver medal in its category in 2007. Although local demand for mead varies annually, MM produces 150 000 bottles of mead every year. In addition to making mead, MM also produces mead vinegar, honey mead mustard, a range of honey-based jams and marmalades.

MM is not just lauded abroad; in the Eastern Cape, MM’s beekeeping training is highly sought-after. Participants progress through two levels of training. The first level teaches “basic beekeeping literacy” and includes an introduction to honey extraction and processing. In the second phase, participants learn about maintaining a small-scale beekeeping operation and developing value-added products.

More than 300 people have been trained from Baviaanskloof to Hluleka in the Eastern Cape, and MM has even conducted training as far afield as the Democratic Republic of Congo. Up to 20 participants per group can receive beekeeping training in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa. This poverty-alleviating dimension of MM supports mostly rural women or grandmothers in tending bees successfully and selling their honey to local suppliers and to MM. Individuals can earn up to R2 000 per harvest in this way. MM purports that its training achieves a higher success rate than many other beekeeping initiatives in the province.

MM is not just a socially-responsive commercial enterprise; it is also an environmental best-practice. Firstly, mead-making uses less water than producing wine as it does not require cultivated land or irrigation while bee-keeping is an effective conservation tool. MM also uses the patent of co-founder, Garth Cambray, to produce mead in an environmentally-sustainable way. A sawmill on the premises of MM manufactures wood into beehives. Other products such as mead racks, picnic tables, even dog kennels are produced. Cambray is experimenting with converting sunflower oil into biodiesel on a larger scale in the province.

Social enterprises like MM demonstrate the citizen innovation and social will that exists around South Africa. Government should build its provincial skills development strategies on these local income-generating hubs.

Read about the creative ways South Africans alleviate poverty every Friday from Impumelelo on our blog or The Citizen newspaper. Impumelelo is the premier repository for solutions that improve quality of life for the poor in South Africa. www.impumelelo.org.za