It is bad enough we import N30.5 billion of honey; it’s worse that it’s fake and dangerous

 

It has been quite fashionable ever since the current recession to stress the imperative of diversifying the country’s economy from oil dependency particularly into agriculture. However, the emphasis in this regard has always been on traditional agricultural crops such as rice, cocoa, wheat, cassava and palm products, among others. Little has it been realised that within the agricultural sector itself, there are tremendous opportunities for diversification to take full advantage of Nigeria’s abundant endowments.

 

One of such neglected areas in agriculture, which experts believe can be a major revenue-earner is apiculture – the business and art of bee-keeping and honey production.

 

The fact that Nigeria can be a major participant and beneficiary in what is estimated to be a $200 billion global apiculture economy was recently brought to light when the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, revealed that the country imports honey worth N30.5 billion every year from China. Yet, the country has all it takes to be a key exporter not just of liquid honey but also of its other associated products such as bee wax, comb honey, bee cake, bee venom, package bees, bee pollen, royal jelly, propolis, bee bread and queen bees, among others. As Chief Ogbeh aptly put it: “You import products from whatever source and you then find yourself shipping out your resources to sustain other economies while back home you have unemployment and poverty”.

 

There is a huge internal demand for organic honey and other bi-products in diverse sectors of the economy including cosmetics, medicine, confectionaries, pharmaceuticals, antiseptics as well as for floor furniture and shoe polish to name a few. This is, therefore, a sector that can greatly stimulate the local economy, by generating thousands of new jobs through the introduction of new products and services.

 

Unfortunately, it is hobbled by the same debilitations that afflict other agricultural products. These include inadequate investment, poor infrastructure such as good roads, insufficient access to farm inputs, inadequate information and extension services and absence of efficient coordination between the Ministry of Agriculture and operators in the industry.

 

Thus, while there is a large internal and external demand for products of the apiculture industry, the sector has been experiencing a decline with a reduction in the number of beekeepers, apiaries and hives leading to a nationwide shortage of and consequent increase in prices of pure, natural honey.

 

Perhaps the most alarming disclosure by Chief Ogbeh is the grave danger that imported honey constitutes to the health of millions of innocent Nigerian consumers. In his words “Now, some of that imported honey is not honey, for when you put them in your fridge and check them in the morning, you’ll see some white substance at the bottom which is a clear evidence that you are taking sugar syrup”.

 

He continued: “A lot of what is going on in the country today, which we haven’t seemed to notice, is what I call self-poisoning. We buy a lot of food from outside of very doubtful quality, things we really don’t know much about. And if you’ve observed, you’ll notice that we’ve been having people of below 20 years complaining of kidney failures and liver diseases. And we really can’t tell where these things are from. So, it’s time to take this whole business of agriculture more seriously”.

 

This is, of course, a very serious self-indictment on the part of the government. For, it indicates that critical agencies like the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food  Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) have been inexcusably negligent. Chief Ogbeh should take this matter up urgently at the Federal Executive Council.

The Nation