As a way of boosting honey production in Nigeria and the West African sub-region, the Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority (BORBDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with off-takers of honey and bee products.
Managing director of the state agency, Engr. Saliu Osifuemhe Ahmed, and representatives of Koster Keunen West Africa, together with those of Old Levi Multibiz Services Ltd formally agreed through the MoU to collaborate in providing the necessary platform to buy off all honey and bee products in the state, especially those produced by the graduate trainees on beekeeping under the auspices of BORBDA in its
catchment states.
The event took place over the weekend at the conference room of BORBDA.
A co-signatory to the agreement was Mr Innocent Odigie, who is the managing director of Dino Trust Global Company Ltd, a beekeeping expert who signed on behalf of his company.
Speaking at the ceremony, which was attended by relevant agencies in food safety and entrepreneurial development of the federal and state governments, the managing director of BORBDA, Saliu Ahmed, said the agreement was a further proof of the agency’s commitment to providing a ready market to the honey and bee products produced by bee farmers trained under the agency’s Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneur Scheme.
The involvement of the offtakers with the bee farmers, he said, would from now onwards boost the confidence and trust of the bee keeping businesses, knowing fully well that whatever they produce would be offtaken at the most competitive price.
He therefore urged the stakeholders, especially the state governments and traditional rulers, to encourage modern bee keeping and honey production, given its suitability “in our local environment.”
The representative of Koster Keunen West Africa, the foreign lead agency in the MoU, Mr Nasser Bembah Bahisa, expressed confidence that the agreement would provide the tonic needed to grow the honey and bee products business in Nigeria and indeed in the West African sub-region.
He urged the bee farmers to take advantage of the market to expand their respective bee colonies for increased yields.
Femi Awoyemi, the representative of Old Levi Multibiz Services Ltd, speaking on behalf of other foreign partners, expressed their commitment to the agreement with BORBDA, with a view to increasing the production of honey and bee products in Nigeria and West Africa through an effective marketing strategy of the products.
Mr Awoyemi expressed concern that Nigeria is yet to be optimum in the production of honey and other bee products due to some environmental factors such as pre-harvest theft and destruction of honey fields by unauthorized persons, and poor processing of the bye-products which reduces their market value.
On her part, the permanent pecretary, ministry of water resources, Edo State, Akongie Oboh, commended BORBDA for the concept of modern bee keeping in the state and expressed the state government’s determination to key into the programme with a view to expanding the current scheme to accommodate more youths in the state in line with the state government’s efforts at empowering more youths through agribusiness.
