By Bisola Adeyemo
As the world marks World Bee Day on May 20, Nigerian bee farmers have decried challenges facing bee farming in Nigeria.
Speaking to Nature News, in an interview, the president of Grassroot Beekeepers of Nigeria, Pastor Dagunduro Gideon, stated that a lot of challenges have affected bee/honey production in Nigeria.
Gideon appealed to the Federal government to help bee farmers with relevant equipment.
He said, “Insecurity is the first challenge we are facing. Hoodlums and herders engage in stealing and vandalisation of the bee hives thereby causing the bees to abscond. This has contributed to poor profits to the farmers.
“Nigeria as a country doesn’t have a single research centre where challenges of beekeepers are researched. Bees go through some diseases that need to be addressed from time to time but there is no laboratory or health centre to address such issue.”
Further speaking on more challenges, Gideon said, “Beekeeping is done in an area with trees plantation, forest or flower garden but deforestation and bush burning have been another big challenge.
“This is because trees and plantations are being raised down, thereby destroying the habitation of the bees.
“We also want the government to help us in the area of funding. This is because Nigerians have been into local beekeeping with less output due to lack of maintenance and proper care.
“Funding has caused modern beekeeping practice to be stalled.”
Speaking on the economic benefits of bee farming, Gideon stated that beekeeping or apiculture could be a lucrative venture in Nigeria if done and marketed rightly.
His words “Besides profit, there are additional benefits you enjoy from engaging in beekeeping. Asides getting honey from bees, numerous products can be extracted from bees which serves as raw materials used by giant companies to produce major products. But all these cannot be achieved with the serious challenges bee farmers are facing.”
In the same vein, other bee farmers, Dr Dooshima Kwange and Miss Chi Okafor, who spoke to NatureNews lamented on the rate of vandalization and lack of secured place for an apiary.
“The challenge of vandalization, theft and bush burning are challenges many beekeepers are facing.
“We want the government to help us to establish an institution of apiculture where policies and inclusion of beekeeping in livestock insurance will be looked into.”
World Bee Day is celebrated on May 20. On this day Anton Janša, the pioneer of beekeeping, was born in 1734.
The main purpose of World Bee Day events is to spread awareness of the significance of bees and other pollinators for survival.
This year’s celebration is themed “Bee engaged: Build Back Better for Bees.”