Honey bees can mitigate effects of climate change – Expert

An Animal Scientist/Apiculturist, Mr Kingsley Nwaogu, on Friday said the practice of beekeeping could mitigate the effects of Climate Change.

Nwaogu said this while delivering an online presentation titled: “Organic Bee-Keeping and its Not Economic Impacts on Journalists Go Organic”  in Abuja.

According to him, bee-Keeping ensures maintenance of natural habitat and biodiversity, which is beneficial to the environment and leads to reduction in global warming.

Nwaogu also said that bees had no negative impacts on the environment, adding that its activities on the farm led to increased green plant population.

He said this led to pollinating flowering plants to ensure the production of viable and quality seeds for replanting.

“The green plants absorb the greenhouse gases from the environment without allowing it to deplete the ozone layer to manufacture their food and liberate oxygen to the environment

“About 75 per cent of crops produce better yields if animals help them pollinate. Of all animals, bees are the most dominant pollinators of wild and crop plants.

“Bees have cultural and environmental importance as pollinators and producers of honey and medicinal products,” he said.

Nwaogu said that during bee-keeping, the farmer gained a lot from the movement of pollen between plants as it was necessary for plants to fertilize and reproduce.

“Honey production is a non-capital intensive profitable industry in Nigeria which remained untapped,” he said.

Nwaogu said that global honey production and export generated 2.4 billion dollars in 2017 while Nigeria spent 2 billion dollars annually on honey importation.

He said that Nigerian annual honey consumption was 400,000 tons.

He said that Nigeria annual honey production was less than 40,000 tons (less than 10 per cent) this trend indicated a large business opportunity.

He said that global demand for honey was projected to exceed 2.8 million tons by 2024.

(NAN)