Add value to honey, advises consultant
Add value to honey, advises consultantBy Joan Chirwa
Friday December 21, 2007 [03:00]
Zambia can earn a lot of foreign exchange from its honey owing to the product’s high quality, an agricultural marketing consultant Alex Price has said. Price, who is winding up his consultancy work with the Small Holder Enterprise and Marketing Programme Agribusiness Development Component (SHEMP-ADC), said adding value to locally produced honey could enhance its competitiveness on the international market.
“There is a lot coming from the forests in Zambia. This country is among the producers of the best honey in the world and a lot of money can be earned if we do a little more in terms of adding value to the product,” Price said.
“What we need to develop is a strong honey sector that can add to the country’s economic growth.”
And Zambia Honey Council (ZHC) coordinator Bill Kalaluka said locally produced honey was facing stiff competition from imported products.
“There is still a lot of honey coming from other countries onto the local market,” Kalaluka said.
“It is important therefore that we try as much as we can to support the honey sector so that there can be well packaged and high quality honey being sold to the people.”
Kalaluka further said the honey council was looking at establishing sufficient bulking centres for honey producers to avoid wastage.
“Bulking centres are very important because beekeepers will be having their honey kept at the centres for collection by the packers,” said Kalaluka.
And Price said the short message service (SMS) market information system of the Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU) had become so popular among the local farmers.
A number of farmers are now able to access prices of different agricultural commodities via their mobile phones.
Honey was recently added on SMS market information system, meaning honey producers can now link themselves to a number of buyers across the country using their mobile phones to enquire about the prevailing prices on the local market.
Labels: HONEY
posted by MrK @ 3:38 AM
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