Prospects of Beekeeping in Nigeria

Nigeria is richly blessed with cultivable land for intense food production of all kinds. This vast land area has barely been harnessed to increase food production; interestingly, there are some form of farming that do not require that trees be fell, they simply fit into the ecosystem and do not pose any threat to it.

One of these interesting farming amongst others such as snail farming is beekeeping. How fortunate can a nation like ours get?; as Nigeria has one of the best vegetation that supports beekeeping in the whole of the world; leaving us with a potential blank check only if we will get to work.

However, the pertinent question that has to be thought about and an answer sought for, is " to what extent have we been able to put our vast vegetation to use? "

For the unemployed youths in the Nigerian population agriculture may seem unappealing and tough but for those who dare to take money from the lion's mouth, it is an adventure, a profitable one at that.

Bee keeping for honey production is a business which is categorized under the agro-foresfry industry. Beekeeping is a non-land based income generating business (I.e it doesn't require large expanse of land for production), honey generated from beekeeping can go into the local market, and it has strong export potentials that you can't imagine.

Keeping honeybees is a business area that has a very few participants both in parts of beekeepers and investors; a simple point that suggests it a virgin business, though it is not new, it has not been raped yet; it has huge untapped profit and livelihood potentials.

It is a viable business that has ample control over supply rate because honey stores excellently ( leaving a beekeeper to sell whenever he pleases), hence, maximizing profit in the long run; though there is no reasonable reason yet for hoarding because currently, and over the past years demand has been greater than supply.

This business has a wide customer base that has its needs inadequately met in terms of supply of original honey due to the low production/supply level of honey by the few beekeepers in the Nation.

Honey bee keeping is a lucrative business and it is a goldmine; in this business you can solve the problem of scarcity and very much enrich yourself in the process. This business also avails you the opportunity of doing other things while your bees fend for themselves.

Written by Cornelius Eniola