IMPROVING INCOME THROUGH BEE-

KEEPING
Development and Improvement of Processing, Packaging and
Marketing of Beeswax and other Bee Products in Tanzania

FUNDED BY
• Government of Belgium
• Government of Tanzania
IMPLEMENTATION
• BTC
• District Councils
• Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism
LOCATION Rufiji, Kigoma and Kibondo districts
DURATION 2007 - 2010
BUDGET
• Belgian contribution: EUR 1.121.179
• Tanzanian contribution: EUR 370.000

CONTEXT
In Tanzania, bee-keeping is an important income generating activity with a very high
potential, especially for communities living close to forests and woodlands. It also plays a
major role in socio-economic development and environmental conservation. Although the
bee-keeping sector has a very good potential to contribute to the livelihoods of bee-
keepers and traders, it is currently contributing little due to inadequate harvesting
techniques, the lack of quality standards, the lack of skills and knowledge in quality control,
poor or lack of packaging of bee products among smallholders, poor marketing skills and
weak management and organizational capacities among bee-keepers.

OBJECTIVES
Tanzania aims to enhance the contribution of the bee-keeping sector to its sustainable
human development. It specifically wants to increase the income of bee-keepers and
traders of bee products through improved commercialization of quality bee products in
Kigoma, Kibondo and Rufiji districts where there are untapped potentials and the living
conditions of the population are especially difficult. The strategies include:
– Improving honey production through intensive capacity building;
– The establishment of a functioning market supply chain for bee products;
– The strengthening of the financial and institutional support base for bee-keepers;
 – Improving of the operational environment for commercial bee-keeping.

RESULTS ACHIEVED SO FAR

This project is being implemented by the District Councils, with the District Bee-keeping
Officer as team leader, assisted by two Technical Advisors.
The project facilitated official registration of bee-keeper’s groups and cooperatives. Bee-
keeper’s group representatives have been trained on group and cooperative management,
environmental policies and legal procedures for the wise use of bee-keeping areas. They
also received practical training on bee-keeping management and quality measurement and
conducted study tours. To ameliorate quality, the project facilitated the construction of bee
product collection centres and to improve the market link bee-keepers where helped to
attend different trade fairs and to meet different potential buyers. To improve accessibility
to credit, the project facilitated the establishment of Village Community Banks and
strengthened existing Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) that support bee-
keepers by providing revolving funds and assisting the members to develop business
plans. The project also assisted one of the existing cooperatives in Kibondo district to
inventorise their assets in order to use them as collateral in getting loans from banks.
Finally, a study was conducted to prepare a marketing strategy that will help bee-keepers
as a guideline in improving their market channels.
In the last three months before the end of the project, the focus was on the preparation of
an exit strategy for Rufiji district and the identification procedures for the second phase of
the project in Kigoma and Kibondo districts. The first phase will be extended with one year,
to avoid a gap between the two phases.
During the second phase in Kigoma and Kibondo, special attention will be paid on capacity
building, further training on business skills and entrepreneurship, the facilitating of
processor groups to acquire product certifications, improving the micro-credit scheme and
introducing new technologies for commercial bee-keeping. A second field of focus will be
on improving the bee-keeping areas by establishment of apiaries and the demarcation of
selected areas.

CONTACT
Florent Nguma, National Project Coordinator:
florent.nguma@btcctb.org

Last update: September 2010 - www.btcctb.org