Scola Kamau
29 October 2009
analysis
Kampala — Born 60 years ago, Mugisha Elly never knew that his love for bees would turn into an income generating activity. At an early age, he started by harvesting wild honey combs, a habit that developed into a passion down in Bushenyi District, where he was born.
The owner of 6.2 hectares of land says that his love for bee keeping was at some point the source of conflict between him and his father. However the returns he enjoys today are a good consolation for all those troubles. "I'm harvesting 1.6 metric tonnes (1,600) kilos of honey twice in a year and a kilo goes for Shs 4, 000,"he says. In his primary five, he used reeds to weave his five beehives and harvested five kilos. At that time, each kilo sold at Shs50
"I used the money to buy a shirt and bed sheets, it was a lot by then" he recalls.
It is those earnings that inspired him to hold on to his passion, which enabled him to multiply his hives to four, after two years. Presently, as Managing Director of Bushenyi Connoisseur Honeys Co-operative Society Limited, Mugisha says that he does not only depend on bees for honey but uses the wax to make candles, which he sells to supplement his income. However, this work is done by his four children in whom he says he has instilled the attritube of hard work.
During holidays, the children rest on Saturdays and Sundays only, their dad says that they have to reap something out of the bees as well. "(on average) each child makes twenty candles per day, " he says.
The entrepreneur who married in his 40s due to his love for bees says he had to buy land, settle his bees and then consider marriage. He adds that despite his late marriage, he has raised his children, whose effort sees him sell each candle at Shs400. However, out of the Shs400, he saves Shs200 for each child and uses the rest to buy more wax.
"It has managed to pay part of their fees and maintain them," he adds.
The honey farmer who agonised over his bees after P7 almost failed to join O level to care of his adored entity. Little did he know that, the honey making insects would separate him from the society. "One time, the hives were burnt and I decided to move the apiary from the bush to my dad's banana plantation," he says.
Unfortunately, not even the neighbours were ready to live with hostile insects around them. However, this did not stop Mugisha's passion. He instead preferred leaving home to losing his apiary.
He sought refuge at Rwenjeru Primary School. The 10 hives at Rwenjeru were made of reeds, cow dung and sand. These materials were meant to make the hives strong and enable them regulate temperature. The income from the venture was however shared between him and the school. "I would harvest during holidays, and the school would harvest for the rest of the days," he says.
After senior 4, Mugisha joined several trainings including apiary management, simple bee biology and bee product handling. He later joined a teacher's training college in Bushenyi where he was not only trained as a tutor but appointed as the bees' master. "Despite being a student I would earn Shs80,000 per month," he says.
As the bees master, the founder of Bushenyi Connoisseur Honeys Cooperative Society Limited organised a group of 30 students who started a bee keepers club, these were later joined by other members of the society. "(Altogether) we would produce 1 metric tonne (1,000 kilos) of honey which we would sell locally," he adds.
The group's efforts did not stop there as in the following year, the sales not only increased to 2.5 metric tonnes but the market was expanded to Kampala as well. Among others, the earnings from bee keeping have enabled Mugisha buy cows and construct two fish ponds. "I am able to sell my fish to the community and use some for home consumption," he says.
Yesterday's challenges pave way for today's success and that's what happened to Mugisha's enterprise. Marketing alone was a challenge and that is why he spearheaded the merging of a group of bee keepers, which lessened the burden of searching for a market.
"It's easier to share ideas and venture into the market as a group," he says.
He adds that the community was slow in adapting to bee keeping and it is his patience that enabled him avail time to explain and convince his fellow farmers.
In his enterprise life, the bee keeper who plans to retire at 70 years, says there is a lack of information in Uganda for bee keepers and therefore they fail to reap higher yields due to lack of direction.
The farmers of this natural product are also faced with a challenge of conservation. Honey is a perishable product and therefore if not well conserved, it goes bad quickly. Unfortunately, local farmers can't afford the modern expensive preservation methods.
In future, he hopes to increase the volume of honey through establishing nursery beds to provide nectar for his bees. He will decorate his compound with flowers that can attract bees as well.
He also intends to buy more land and attract more community members to engage in bee keeping and create ways of exporting honey. "I had contacts with UK and Germany, but the demand is ( a little too much)," he concludes.
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