What is Bee Farming?
Bee farming is the keeping of bees for productive purposes. It is one of the cheapest types of farming that a person can engage in, especially in Cameroon.
Since Cameroon is a country that is approximately 70 percent arid and semi-arid, it is a good place for bee farming because bee farming is a type of enterprise that does not necessarily require fertile land.
The arid and semi-arid areas in Cameroon, such as North West and South West Regions and Bamenda, Buea, Douala, and Yaounde, have been the best places for bee production. This is because most of the honey sold in the Cameroonian market comes from those two regions.
Advantages Of Bee Farming
The main advantages of bee farming include:
- Beekeeping or Bee farming only requires a small piece of land.
- It requires a small amount of money or capital to start.
- Honey from bees is believed to possess some medicinal value.
- Bee Farming needs little labor force.
- It has more than ten income-generating products (some of them include pollen, royal jelly, propolis, bee colonies, bee brood, and bee venom).
- Bees are flower pollinators and hence assist in the fertilization of plants.
Beekeeping: How To Start Profitable Bee Farming In Cameroon
To start beekeeping or a profitable bee farm in Cameroon, do the following:
- Get a good piece of land for the bee farm.
- Develop a bee-human relationship
- Set up a beehive
- Purchase harvesting materials
- Harvest the honey from the bees for profit-making
The first thing a person who wants to start beekeeping should know is that he/she should be able to consider the bee-human relationship. Bees are hazardous insects that sting and, to some extent, can cause death; therefore, a farmer should know how to deal with them.
The total amount a person requires to set up bee farming is approximately 55000 FCFA (from purchasing the beehive to harvesting materials) and the equipment used for harvesting honey.
Setting up a beehive requires 30000 FCFA, for example, the Langstroth type of beehive. However, a person may decide to use locally available materials to construct one from home.
The harvesting materials cost a total of about 25000FCFA. These materials include gumboots, gloves, bee suits, and smokers.
Once you have finished constructing or buying a beehive, you can now set the beehive on either the farm or bush.
If you do not have a farm, you can negotiate with your neighbor or a friend so that he/she can allow you to use their farm because bees will assist in the fertilization of plants and vegetables.
Once the beehive is set, it can be left for six months or one year because it does not need close supervision like other types of farming. You can also attract the beehive by putting the juice or sugary solution inside the beehive.
Harvesting honey from bees is usually done one year after the beehive has been set. The second harvesting can be done about 8 months after the first.
After the second harvesting of the beehive (honey), the subsequent harvests can be done every four months. After harvesting honey, you can sell it to the market at about 1500 FCFA per kilo of honey.
How Much Does It Cost To Setup A Bee Farm In Cameroon For Beekeeping?
Let's enumerate the various components of a bee farm and its costs or price of acquisition:
- Beehive setup - 30000 FCFA
- Harvesting Materials - 250000 FCFA