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THE API – SECTOR NEWSLETTER Volume 1, No 2

December, 2014

The JACARANDA Female Graduate Beekeepers Cooperative (Bahir Dar) receiving equipment (see page 15); from left Ato Haileyesus Abate (GIZ-SLM Amhara); Dr Juergen Greiling (EAB); SerkieFentahun (JACARANDA ); Solomon Mengesha (EAB); Mastewal Adane (JACARANDA) and Kerealem Ejigu (EAB Amhara)

Published by the ETHIOPIAN APICULTURE BOARD

NEWS

API

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TABLE OF CONTENTS, CONTRIBUTOR (IN BRACKETS*) AND PAGE NUMBER

Impressum Message from the Editor (JG, EAB ) 3 Sector Update 4

- 25th MSP (SOL, EAB) 4 - Sector Collaboration (NB, EAB) 7 - EAB Capacity Development Plan (YG, SNV) 9 - Quality Task Force (JG) 9 - Laboratory Assessment, Gap Analysis ( JG &GT, MoA) 12 - Fostership Initiative & 2nd German

Beekeepers Travel to Ethiopia, Female Graduate Beekeepers & Honey Clubs – Update (SOL) 13

- ASPIRE Grant Update (GO, EAB) 16 - New Website of the EAB (TT, EAB) 18 - API EXPO AFRICA 2014 (Zimbabwe) (NB) 19 - APIMONDIA / APIAFRICA Tanzania,

November 2014 (JG) 21 - MoI Ten Years Honey Development Plan(JG ) 23 - Investigation of Ethiopian Honey (AB, EAB) 23 - API Ethiopia EXPO 2014 (MA) 25

Practical hints & Capacity Development 26

Guide lines for the quality assurance of bee products in Tanzania: honey(from the APIAFRICA 2014, Arusha) (EAB)

New activities 29

- Supe (SOL) - Mettu& “Learning for Life” (SOL)

Upcoming events (NB) 30 Input providers corner (JG ) 30 *) JG Dr Juergen Greiling; SOL Solomon Mengesha; NB Negash Bekena – all Ethiopian Apiculture Board -EAB; YG Yetnayet Girmaw, Netherlands Development Organization - SNV; GT Gezahegn Tadesse, Ministry of Agriculture - MoA; GO Guta Olana; TT Tatek Tesfaye; AB Abera Belay; MA Mulufird Ashagrie – all Ethiopian Apiculture Board - EAB Impressum API NEWS - Apiculture Sector Newsletter Published by the Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB)2 times / year Responsible:Negash Bekena, General Manager EAB 011 5 504149Nbtb1963@yahoo.com Editor:Dr Juergen Greiling (EAB) 0921 785839 juergen.greiling@cimonline.de

The views expressed in the articles are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the EAB

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MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

Dear reader, The Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) is pleased to present the second newsletter of the Ethiopian apiculture sector to you. Having started as “EAB NEWS” in June, 2014, and being launched during the 25th Multi Stakeholder Platform, the newsletter changed appearance as well as structure. We took note of the feedback given during the 25th MSP and tried to incorporate it in the second newsletter published in 2014. You will have noted that “EAB NEWS” was changed into “API-NEWS” considering the recommendation to broaden the scope of the Newsletter, and to make it more representative of the work undertaken by other sector actors, specifically our sister organizations EBA and EHBPEA. These organizations have pledged contributions to future editions of the Newsletter – we are looking forward to receiving these contributions. We changed the structure and want to stick to this structure in the future. There will always be a “Sector Up-Date”, “Practical Hints & Capacity Development”; “New Activities” and an “Input Providers Corner” with advertisements. Future chapters on capacity development shall be addressing issues such as quality of bee’s products; we will also include advice on seasonal management of the bees – if possible in the Amharic language. EHBPEA and EBA will contribute these chapters. For the time being, we start by reproducing selected chapters of a useful booklet on “Quality assurance of bee products in Tanzania” which has been distributed during the APIAFRICA 2014 Symposium in Arusha last month. We were able to include advertisements of input providers and want to have more of them in forthcoming editions of the API NEWS – these adverts (for which the companies will pay a moderate fee in the future) will help you to locate inputs more easily, and provide income to the API-NEWS which we need in order to continue and possibly expand the service. The API-News will be distributed electronically, wherever possible; but a limited number of hard copies will be available. Recipients of the API-NEWS are the EAB members, our sister organizations EBA and EHBPEA which would distribute it among their members; as well as some key public and private stakeholders. Pending the availability of personnel and financial resources, hard copies will be available at the “grass root level” in the future. The EAB is indebted to public and private stakeholders / members of the Honey Value Chain, for welcoming a sector publication, for constructive comments and for their promise to render support in the future. Our special thanks to all contributors of this issue. Enjoy reading and give us our feedback. Don’t forget to visit the home page of the EAB www.ethioapiboard.org ( NEW!) Dr Juergen Greiling Senior Advisor, EAB

- Editor-

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SECTOR UPDATE

SUMMARY: The 25th National Multi Stakeholder Platform meeting of the Honey Value Chain

Conducted at GHION HOTEL, Addis Ababa, June 12th and 13th, 2014

Day 1 Ato Negash Bekena, General Manager of the EAB, welcomed about 95 participants from all over the country to the 25 MSP meeting. They represented a multitude of value chain / sector actors.Ato Negash bridged the gap to last years’ meeting by recalling the action points of the 24th MSP, and the progress made. Ato Hailegiorgis Demissie, President of the EAB, in his welcome address discussed the sector progress, achievements, challenges, constraints, opportunities, and the demand for coordination among the actors/stakeholders and finally thanked SNV for the finance support extended to organize the MSP. H.E. Dr. Mebrahtu Meles, State Minister of the Ministry of Industry, in his key note speech, indicated that the beekeeping sub-sector is one of the strategic sectors prioritized by the government towards attempting industrialization. He urged both public and private sector representatives to address the challenges for the sector’s development, and indicated the government institutional arrangement for its support. In this context he noted the initiative of agro-food pack (nutrition) by the government to develop the industry. He recognized the success of the recent Api-Expo conducted in the Exhibition Center on the one hand, which had specifically emphasized the importance of quality production, and indicated the need for commitment and coordination to mitigate such risks as for example adulteration. Dr Dagnachew Beyene, on behalf of H.E. Ato Tefera Derebew, Minister of Agricultureand patron of the EAB, who had been called for an urgent meeting at short notice and was therefore unable to attend the MSP, stressed the indispensable role of the apiculture and its multiple function in the country’s development agenda, with emphasis on the roles of beekeeping for food security, climate change adaptation, and income diversification. With the assurance that the MoA will continue its support in coordinating the sector’s development, Dr Dagnachew declared the 25th Multi Stakeholder Platform of the Ethiopian Honey Value Chain open. Ato Solomon Mengesha, Planning Head of the EAB, invited H.E. Dr Mebrahtu to take part in the launching ceremony of the EAB NEWS Volume 1 No. 1, following which both the MoI and the MoA pledged support for this important initiative to improve sector development. Following this, the three sector organizations EAB (national as well as regional chapters), EBA and EHBPEA highlighted the progress made during the past year and stressed the need for better communication and exchange of information. The existence of a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between the sector organizations was highlighted. Ato Solomon Mengesha, Planning Head of the EAB, briefly presented last years’ action points and the actions taken. Some of the points were explained in more detail such as the examples and advantages of bottom-to-top beekeepers associations (Dr. Juergen Greiling, Senior Advisor, EAB) and the evaluation of a suspected poisonous plant, Euphorbia continifoliaby Ato Alemayehu Gela, Researcher at the Holetta Bee Research Center.

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Gender in Apiculture and The Female Graduate Beekeepers Programme and Fostership Initiative(presentations made by SNV and the EAB)highlighted the progress made in involving more women in all segments of the apiculture value chain. This was followed by briefings on ASPIRE and AGP-AMDe. Dr Juergen Greiling highlighted the work of the newly established “Task Force on Quality and Safety of Hive Products and Beehives” which has so far focused on the National Laboratory Capacity Assessment, which aims at the establishment of internationally accredited laboratories for residue and honey analysis; a previous MSP satisfaction survey was also presented (Ato Solomon Mengesha), which called for more focused and smaller MSPs; lessons from past national and international exhibitions were shared and ways to bridge the gap in international marketing capacity were shown by Mr Kasper Kerver from ProFound.

Day 2

The following working groups were formed: Group 1: National Apiculture Coordination Strategy (Chair: Paulos Desalegn, SNV) Group 2: Quality and laboratory issues (Chair: Yetnayet Girmaw, SNV) Group 3: Beekeepers structuring issues (Chair: Yetnayet Girmaw, SNV) The agendas for the three groups were similar and firstly dealt with the current status; issues, desired changes; and then formulated action points, which are as follows: The following action points have been formulated by the groups. Group 1: National apiculture coordination strategy Action Topic / Action to be taken By Deadline for Point completion of Assignment; Remarks 1 Participants inform their respective organizations to

enhance next steps of collaboration and coordination requests

All Immediate – in next working days

2 Promote EAB and its coordination role to main actors like Regional BOFED offices to direct new proposal and project request advice before project approval

EAB Regular – needs high priority for some organization

3 Map properly existing activities and projects EAB +exist. Apiculture Working Groups

High priority

4 For existing projects look activity sharing options beyond joint activities and contribution for existing national level activities like accredited lab service initiatives

EAB Can be aligned with No 3

5 Assess and identify mechanisms how to coordinate activities at local level (Region, Woreda, Kebele level)

EAB Can be aligned with No 3

6 Identify main gaps of the sector that is not covered with existing projects and formulate joint project including the conservation aspect

EAB Can be aligned with No 3

7 Start with volunteer organizations for the coordination but seek also enforcement mechanism to make it more broader and acceptable

EAB + existing Apiculture W. Groups

High priority

8 Further strengthening of the sector association joint EAB Regular – can be

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effort and have functional structure to local level to benefit the small holders

aligned with sector restructuring action points

Group 2:Quality and laboratory issues Action Topic / Action to be taken By Deadline for Point completion of Assignment; Remarks 1 Residue laboratory gap analysis & accreditation –

(ISO 17025 – 2005) ECAE, BLESS, JIJE EAB High priority

2 Regional honey laboratory gap analysis, upgrading – (ISO 17025 - 2005) HBRC, BoAMekelle, B/D University

EAB High priority – parallel to (1)

3 Include table honey for domestic markets in quality assurance programme

EAB & FMHACA

Systematic sampling along supply chain incl. retail in cities

4 Assure traceability of honey and other hive products from bottom to top

EAB Auditing and announcement which honey is traceable

5 Assure the enforcement of quality standards

FMHACA Sampling along the VC

6 Create awareness on quality and build capacity on quality assurance

EAB EAB NEWS

7 For assisting laboratories in their planning, determine number of samples and types of analyses to be expected over time

EAB Local consultancy similar to 2008 lab assessment

Group 3: Beekeepers structuring issues Action Topic / Action to be taken By Deadline for Point completion of Assignment; Remarks 1 Assess utilization of existing structures to organize

the supply chain from bottom to top as in European examples presented

EAB Medium priority

2 Copy what has been successful in the Europe and not invest more time on study because the Europeans investigated the advantages very well

EAB Medium priority

3 Using the European structures is more advantageous for Ethiopia, therefore we have to investigate and work on the legality and policy issues.

EAB &MoA High priority Assess if to be included in current proclamation

The Proceedings of the 25th MSP to which all presentations are annexed can be found on the EAB website

NEW! www.ethioapiboard.org

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Sector collaboration

- MoU between Sectoral Associations

The MoU “Collaboration among the Three National Institutions of the Ethiopian Honey Sector” between the three sector organizations, the EAB – Ethiopian Apiculture Board EBA - Ethiopian Beekeepers Association and the EHBPEA - Ethiopian Honey and Beeswax Producers and Exporters Association was concluded with the objective of sharing roles and responsibilities while jointly contributing to the sector’s development. Key issues of the MoU are coordination among stakeholders / associations and strengthening the mutual understanding among the associations for better agreement for future actions. The MoU also delineates roles and responsibilities in enhancing productivity and production as well as the sector’s engagement on quality and in policy engagement issues. The three existing and above mentioned institutions in the sector have their own establishment objectives and legal personalities. Their objectives look overlapping as shown below, but with no such a felt negative impact or being a source of conflict among themselves. The important points in their objectives are split in order to be able to analyze them and see the similarities and differences.

SN

Important areas in their objectives

Pointed out to be addressed

Existing Sectoral Institutions and

their selected intervention areas

EBA EHBPEA EAB

1 Dev’t of conducive policy environment

2 Increase productivity and production

3 Promotion and marketing

4 Competency dev’t in service delivery

5 Forum for dialogues

6 Research and development

7 Product quality and safety

8 Health of bee colonies & protection

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9 Information center for the members

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Organized relationship and increased negotiation power

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Strengthening of & providing support to the organizations under the umbrella

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Development of code of conduct

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Membership base Beekeepers

Professionals

Service providers

Processors

Exporters

Producers

Whole sellers

Retailers

Processors

Exporters

Gov’t bodies

NGOs

The analysis indicates that only four of the areas selected for intervention are picked exclusively by one institution and four others are shared by two of the institutions. Four other areas are picked by all. Although most of the points are shared by two or three of them, major focus goes to only one of the institutions. For example, “Increase productivity and production” (SN 2) is shared by EAB and EBA, the task mainly being responsibility of EBA. With the EAB being an apex body and having a responsibility in overall improvement of the sector, it can work on the same area and also assist EBA in accomplishing its major task. Similarly, “Promotion and marketing” (SN 3) is shared by EHBPEA and EAB. This is because product promotion is a major task of EHBPEA although EAB, as an apex body working for overall development of the sector, can work on the area. On the other hand, some other activities are shared by all the institutions for a good reason. For instance, “Forum for dialogue” (SN 5) is shared by all and has to be facilitated by all institutions separately as they have different general assembly which has great interest in specific part of the value chain. Although the national and regional MSPs are organized through frontier coordination action of EAB where members from all segments of the value chain are participating and all issues and opportunities in the sector are dealt for good of the sector.

(NB)

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EAB Capacity Development

The ASPIRE (Apiculture Scale – Up Project for Income and Rural Employment) project aims at and collaborates with all relevant stakeholders towards an inclusive and self-steering Apiculture sector. The Ethiopian Apiculture Board is one of the sector associations which the ASPIRE project is closely working with and capacitating it so that the association can play its role for the sector development. Accordingly, ASPIRE conducted an institutional capacity assessment with the facilitation of an external consultant that included a one day workshop. The workshop aimed to identify the EAB’s strengths and limitations and develop recommendations in line with its mandate and strategic plan. Based on the consultant’s findings and recommendations, a Capacity Building Plan was prepared by EAB and further enriched by the ASPIRE team. Strengthening the regional chapters, improving the M&E system, enhancing the collaboration with other sector associations and strengthening EAB’s leadership are the key focus areas identified in the capacity building plan. Subsequently, the implementation of some of the Capacity Building activities started in 2014 and additional activities will continue in the coming year.

(YG)

The Task Force “QUALITY AND SAFETY OF BEE PRODUCTS AND INPUTS” The Task Force“QUALITY AND SAFETY OF BEE PRODUCTS AND INPUTS” was established on July 30th, 2013 following preparatory meetings and based on a letter of H.E. the Minister of Agriculture to selected national organizations who are expected to contribute towards the objective of the Task Force (TF). In a broader sense, the TF’s objective is reflected in its name: contribute towards the quality and safety of bee products and inputs. “Bee products” would initially be honey and beeswax and at a later stage this could be expanded to include propolis and possibly pollen. As “inputs” cover a wide area – possibly too wide to be dealt with by this task force – the participants agreed to deal with “inputs” in a most focused and practical manner; starting with such inputs for which standards exist, but where adjustment may be needed (such as beehives) and other inputs for which standards may be required (e.g. casting mould, queen excluder, etc.). Inputs such as smokers, protective clothing etc. while they should be of good quality, cannot easily be standardized and should, therefore, have less priority. The selected national organizations responded by nominating permanent members to the TF. Ato Gezahegne Tadesse (MoA) was elected chairman while the EAB was nominated as the TF secretariat with Dr Juergen Greiling and Ato Solomon Mengesha being permanent members of the TF. The TF decided to invite SNV Ethiopia to attend all TF meetings as guest and also included SNV Ethiopia in the distribution list for invitations, minutes and documents for the TF sessions. Presently, the TF members are as follows:

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Nr

Participant name Organi-zation

Position

in TF

Telephone email

1 Ato Gezahegn Tadesse MoA Chairman 0911674692 tgezahegne2006@gmail.com

2 Ato Abu Negesso EHBPEA Member 0912998728 abu.negesso@

yahoo.com

3 Dr. Amsalu Bezabeh EIAR Member 0911353271 amssalub@

gmail.com

4 Dr. Desalegn Begna EBA Member 0911353035 desalegnbegna@

yahoo.co.uk

5 Girma Alemar TCCPA Member 0911 962533 girmaalemar@

gmail.com

6 Dr. Juergen Greiling EAB Secretary 0921785839 juergen.greiling@

cimonline.de

7 Ato Seyoum Wolde FMHACA Member 0911625226 seyowolde@

gmail.com

8 Ato Solomon Mengesha

EAB Secretary 0911398941 mengeshasolomon@yahoo.com

9 Ato Yohannes Melese ESA Member 0912133103 kolokorma@

yahoo.com

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Ato Yonas G/Hiwot ECAE Member 0911145587 yonas.ghiwot@

eca-e.com

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Ato Tesfaye Kenea SNV Guest 0911 808730 tkenea@snvworld.

org

Prior to formalizing Terms of Reference (TOR) and activities of the TF, it was decided to focus without delay on one of the critical issues which keep on hampering the sector’s development, which is the lack of accredited national laboratory capacity to undertake residue analyses (in fulfillment of the annual Residue Monitoring Plan) and full honey analysis. TF members identified national laboratories with a promising capacity for the above analysis and evaluated them, and then shortlisted them. The list of laboratories to be accredited for residue testing and full honey analysis include a government enterprise and two private laboratories while selected (public) regional laboratories shall be accredited for honey testing. The TF then developed Terms of Reference for an international consultant to undertake a so-called “gap analysis” in view of a possible accreditation in the selected laboratories. SNV

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agreed to cover the cost of this assignment. An international consultant from Uganda was charged with the task. The de-briefing took place on November 14, 2014. A first impression of the institutions assessed is presented in another chapter of this API NEWS (page 12). In between, the TF developed TOR and a list of priority activities. Members of the TF were assigned as “Lead TF members” for the individual activities as follows: Activity

No.

Activity Lead TF member

1 Rapid assessment on marketable bee products (emphasizing on honey and beeswax and adulteration detection assistance to Value Chain - all actors)

Yohannes Melesse

2 Rapid assessment on marketable beekeeping inputs (emphasizing on beehives, protective clothing, queen excluders, honey presses, casting mold, honey containers and storage places )

Dr Desalegn Begna

3 Rapid assessment of safe transportation, packaging and storage of honey and bees wax with special emphasis on food grade containers”

Abu Negesso

4 Review existing national standards on quality of marketable bee products (honey & beeswax) and inputs (beehives), and propose development of new standards for other inputs (foundation press / casting mold, extractor, honey press and queen excluder); identify and propose mandatory clauses; develop product certification schemes for honey and beeswax.

Seyoum Wolde

5 Developing national quality management manual, possibly in separate volumes (from the production to marketing or consumer)

Dr Juergen Greiling & Solomon

Mengesha

6 Analyzing six years of Ethiopian residue monitoring plan (trend analysis of the residues)

Dr Juergen Greiling & Dr Amssalu Bezabeh

7 Awareness creation workshop on quality and safety of bee products and input (output of the work of the TF)

Gezahegne Tadesse

It was recalled that all members are subjected to participate in different activities as deemed necessary or as per the information made by lead persons. Implementing the various activities requires funds which in most cases have to be raised. The TF identified potential funding agencies. Three activities (number 1, 4 and 5 of the above list) have already been developed into proposals and submitted to SNV for funding. As far as activity 5 (Quality Manuals) is concerned, the TF expressed the need to go beyond the development of a manual but integrate this manual into a “system” which would assure

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the implementation of good practices, embedded in proper quality assurance measures such as testing. The TF developed a concept note for such “system” which also include a “quality seal” and “honey competition” and will discuss it with the donor. We will continuously up-date our readers regarding developments in and around the Task Force.

Up-Date: Laboratory Assessment & Gap Analysis A core activity of the Task Force on “QUALITY AND SAFETY OF BEE PRODUCTS AND INPUTS” (TF) has been the identification of laboratories which might qualify to implement (accredited) residue and honey quality analyses. On top of the facilities which were assessed by the TF, public partners recommended the inclusion of laboratories of national or regional importance.The assessed and recommended laboratories are the following: BLESS (private joint venture, Legetafo); Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise, ECAE (government enterprise, Addis Ababa); BoA Mekelle; Hawassa University; JIJE Laboglass (private, Alemgena); Ethiopian Meat and Dairy Industry Development Insitute, EMDIDI (DebreZeit); MoA Veterinary Laboratory (Akaki); MoH Food, Medicine and Health Care Administration and Control Authority, FMHACA (Addis Ababa); Bahir Dar University; Holetta Bee Research Centre, HBRC All these laboratories have subsequently been included in the Terms of Reference of an international consultant who had been selected out of seven applications for this assignment. The core of the ToR is a so-called “gap assessment” – in other words it is the identification of gaps or deficiencies which would need to be addressed before the laboratory would qualify for residue testing accreditation or full honey analysis. The Laboratory specialist identified for this task is Mr Kepher Kuchana Kateu, who has for many years been the Operational Manager of CHEMIPHAR Uganda (Kampala), the only regional (private) accredited laboratory for residue analysis. Kepher Kuchana Kateu now serves as a Director of the Directorate of Government Analytical Laboratory under the Ugandan Ministry of Internal Affairs, Kampala. An SNV funded study to assess the laboratory capacity / existing gaps took place between 29th of October and the 14th of November 2014. This study paves the way for an upgrading of the Ethiopian food testing laboratory capacity – a crucial need in the development of food chains such as the honey value chain. Food safety is an important issue for public and animal health both in a national and international trade context as expressed by the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and referred to by its Member States in their legislation and enforcement structures. Mutual understanding and trust is important in international food trade; the SPS agreement was created to enhance conditions favorable to such trade. The main elements of the food safety system foreseen in the SPS agreement include a risk based approach for food business operators (FBO) and official controls, the delegation of the responsibility for food safety to the FBOs, and official controls to verify that the FBOs are fulfilling those obligations. Access to reliable and efficient laboratory services is an essential precondition for all these elements and therefore one of the main pillars of international trade in food products. This potentially large impact laboratories have on global trade through their role in public, animal and plant health, underlines their importance in food safety.

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Risks which might be detected in a laboratory are almost too numerous to count but could be listed according to a category of risk such as chemical contamination of any kind (drugs, pesticides, growth promoters, environmental contaminants, additives), microbial pathogens for humans or animals (bacterial, viral, parasitical) and biological toxins (shell fish, bacterial toxins, toxic fish etc.). An efficient and accurate laboratory service is an important factor also within food production, where laboratories provide verification of hygiene conditions and absence of chemical contamination; which may be an essential precondition for private or public certification for trade facilitation including certifying for a country to be free from certain animal or plant diseases. In a debriefing session on November 14, the consultant gave his preliminary findings and his first impressions to members of SNV and the EAB. They are as follows (the names of the laboratories assessed are not mentioned herepending the final report).

1. Private entity; high level of sustainability; competent staff 2. One stop centre, low technical competence; old equipment 3. Only space available, no equipment; region has high potential

Inadequate equipment & technical competence, could serve Southern region which has high honey potential

4. Private entity; high QMS, accommodation rented; expansion not guaranteed 5. Small dairy lab; low on all aspects; major lab investment needed 6. Strong on equipment; good lab environment; partial human resource competence;

very low on QMS 7. Strong on pharmaceuticals analysis but weak on agri-food testing 8. Strong in terms of equipment; for honey analysis with regards to heavy metals (ICP-

OES) 9. Higher level of honey analysis compared to other labs; strong in research and

training; has potential to be a Centre of Excellence (CoE) The consultant is working on the draft final report detailing the findings per laboratory assessed and the draft report is expected to be issued before Christmas

Fostership initiative 2nd German Beekeepers Travel to Ethiopia,

Graduate female beekeepers establish producer groups Honey clubs and apiculture training

Update: December 2014

Fostership initiative This is a programme by which German beekeepers support young Ethiopian (predominantly graduate female) beekeepers with a “starter kit” and advice (they establish email communication), which enables them to start their own beekeeping. The EAB supports this programme by assisting the new Ethiopian beekeepers to form producer groups and to get access to land for an apiary. The EAB also involves the new beekeepers as assistant trainers; integrates them in capacity building measures to promote their business skills; and helps them accessing finance for further developing their businesses. The initiative is not only backed by individual German foster beekeepers, but also by a newly established German NGO “Beekeepers for Beekeepers in Ethiopia” which is registered in the

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German capital Berlin. The NGO started a successful fund raising programme in which it is supported by one of the major api-journals, the German Bee Journal. Presently, 23 young Ethiopian beekeepers are enrolled in the programme and about the same number is in the process of being connected. Female Graduate Beekeepers Associations have been established in Bahir Dar, Sebata , Nekempte and Addis Ababa. Apiaries are operational in Bahir Dar and Sebata and will soon be set up in Nekempte and Addis Ababa (see below). 2nd German Beekeepers Travel to Ethiopia During 2012, a first group of German beekeepers visited Ethiopia; they participated in the API EXPO AFRICA 2012 and then visited interesting historical and beekeeping sites in the country. The trip was organized by the German Bee Journal for its readers (more than 20,000 journals are sold every month) with the assistance of a German and an Ethiopian tour operator and it was a great success. It also marked the initiation of the fostership initiative (above). A second journey of this kind has been conducted during September, 2014; again it was organized by the German Bee Journal but a German tour operator was no longer involved. Participants booked their flights themselves and all the rest was done by an Ethiopian tour operator with the assistance of the EAB. Four German “foster parents” were among the group who visited their Ethiopian “foster children” and provided more support, advice and also a helping hand. In addition to this, two “foster parents” provided a laptop to their “foster children” in order to improve their email – communication. One highlight of this year’s trip was a workshop in Bahir Dar, hosted by the GIZ Sustainable Land Management Programme, in which other sector operators participated and presented their apiculture activities. Ato Solomon Mengesha, Planning Head of the EAB, arranged the workshop, and gave a presentation on the background, status and future plans of the Fostership Programme. GIZ’s Sustainable Land Management Programme (SLM), Amhara Region which had kindly agreed to host the workshop and later on invited the participants for dinner and discussion, shared their experience and plans with apiculture in SLM approaches. The Amhara Livestock Agency shared the potential of the region, whereas the Bahir Dar University informed the visitors about the first Master in Apiculture – MSc- programme in Ethiopia which is implemented by this university.

Mrs. Annette Zietz from Berlin / Germany in front of the JACARANDA store, on the apiary site, with

Ato Mulat (Apiculture Expert, Livestock Agency) in the background. Annette is the foster beekeeper of Serkie Fentahun of JACARANDA

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The first two candidates for the next German Beekeepers Travel have already been registered and we intend to ask the NGO “Beekeepers for Beekeepers in Ethiopia” for assistance in advertising and facilitating the event. If things go well, we will see the next group in 2015. Graduate female beekeepers establish producer groups The EAB, in capacitating graduate females to venture into beekeeping, responds to the age-old call for more women in beekeeping which, despite of discussing it all over the country and encouraging it by so many sector operators, has not yielded the expected results. The number of women who practice beekeeping is still extremely low. There are few women in the apiculture business (company owners, exporters) and they are poorly represented in the governing boards of the sector associations. Considering these unresolved issues, the EAB is proud to report the establishment of four new women graduate female beekeepers producer groups in Bahir Dar (JACARANDA, managed by Mastewal Adane and Serkie Fentahun); Addis Ababa (managed by Sisay Abera and Elsa Tassie); Sebata (managed by Abebech Mideksa and Mulu Soboka) and Nekempte, managed by Obse Misganu and Ebse Hika. More are under way. All members have also joined the Ethiopian Apiculture Board as members and have started providing capacity development to other women. The advertising board prepared by the Bahir Dar JACARANDA group is shown below.

JACARANDA BKA offers apiculture services: signboard along the fence of their apiary

Honey Clubs and apiculture training Honey Clubs at universities are the pool from which candidates for capacity development in apiculture are being recruited. Female student’s Honey Clubs exist in Assela (School of Agriculture, under ASTU); Jimma (School of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine) as well as in Mekelle and Mettu. New beekeeping courses for female graduates are to be conducted in Jimma (with expected support from GIZ SLM) and Mettu (Learning for Life funding secured) The Mettu course (see page 29) with approx. 30 female participants will be conducted from December 15, 2014 to January 3rd, 2015

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ASPIRE Grant Fund Management; criteria, progress and achievements

ASPIRE (Apiculture Scaling - Up Programme forIncome and Rural Employment) aims to contribute to poverty reduction in rural areas of Ethiopia by establishing a dynamic and sustainable apiculture sector. The program has been designed to increase the income of 30,000 smallholder beekeepers in Ethiopia and enhance the country's performance as a significant exporter of apiculture products specifically honey, beeswax, pollen and propolis. The programme intends to reach out to beekeepers in four regions: Oromia, Amhara, Tigray, and SNNPR. One of the ASPIRE instruments to stimulate apiculture sector improvements is a Grant Fund. The ASPIRE grant facility is implemented under three fund categories:

Business linkages and business innovations: funding category envisages mainly for establishment of sustainable business linkages & commercialization of beekeepers, out-grower scheme establishment, support beekeeper group formation, initiation of beekeepers’ semi-commercialization, establishment of demonstration apiary sites for processing companies and commercial beekeepers, support learning beekeeping equipment and kits for beekeepers, beekeeping business - school/collection centers establishment.

Service and input innovations: this category is funding to test innovations in input supply (colony, hive, protective cloth, and others), service provision including financial services and products, collection services, and any other innovative model in business linkage and financing which has potential for sustainable up-scaling.

Strengthening of sector organizations and institutions: this is meant to develop the capacity of sector organizations primarily EAB, EHBPEA, EBA and service providers in critical sector issues like an apiculture lab service.

The main eligibility criteria to apply are: • Clear link with the apiculture sector in Ethiopia • Clear business orientation of the proposed project • Legal entity with apiculture business in the ground • Clear link to the ASPIRE program objective • Own contribution of at least 5 - 20% of the project costs based on intervention type.

The programme provides training and places particular emphasis on “Training of trainers” approaches (ToT). Trained experts in turn train kebele development workers and also model beekeepers. One of the trained model beekeepers (at Mettu Worda) who has successfully managed his apiary is Ato Cheru (depicted below).

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Cheru Bekadu’s apiary

To this effect, the grant fund support has been on progress since the project initiation. Consequently, about 100 projects have been approved during the last three rounds of the grant fund calls and implementation. Most of the grant projects intend to conduct beekeepers training with technical coaching and follow up by senior experts. Training and technical coaching support (through the grant scheme) Until end of October 2014, more than 21,000 beneficiaries became included in the grant fund support with about 22 million Birr budget investment of the grant fund. The following photographs show the demonstration of advanced beekeeping inputs

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(GO)

Ethiopian Apiculture Board New Website

Since 2012, the Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) has been promoting the sector using a webpage with the name "www.ethioapic.org.et”. The web page was not dynamic. Therefore, for more contribution and members’ satisfaction, we designed a new webpage with the name" www.ethioapiboard.org" which is modern, dynamic and attractive having the following contents: "Home / About Us / Service / Partners and Donors / Sector Potential / Programmes / Publications / News / Contact Us and Events. It has also got social media links like Facebook and Twitter. If you want to be a member, the web page has membership form. What‘s new in the menus? - Publications: The Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) has published the first API-DIRECTORY for the sector. This directory is hopefully vital for the sector actors and most of them are enjoying that. So now we make it available on this menu. You will also find the “API NEWS” (the sector newsletter) and other important documents here. -Services: The EAB, as an apex body, has a lot to do for the sector actors and members. Likewise we are providing more than twelve services and they are accessible in this menu. All menus offer a lot of helpful information for you and your organization! Visit us – and benefit! (TT)

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Ethiopian Team Participation in the ApiExpo Africa 2014

ApiExpo Africa, a regional not-for-profit organization champions the promotion of African honey and other bee products internationally.The ApiExpo Africa 2014 is the 4th All-Africa International Honey Exposition held from 6th to 11th October 2014 at Harare International Conference Centre, The Rainbow Towers Hotel in Zimbabwe under the theme “Beekeeping for economic empowerment in Africa”. The Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) initiated and coordinated the participation of theEthiopian team together with ACDI-VOCA/AMDe and SNV Ethiopia. The initial plan presented to supporting organizations was a team of 20 people, but only 8 participated on the event to learn from and share to other participants. Some missed due to visa problem. The objectives of Api Expo Africa were to: • Showcase Africa’s api-sector potential • Showcase api-business inputs and services. • Form a platform for sharing information on new research findings and

developments. • Create business linkages and networking. • Strengthening the host country’s beekeeping industry apex body.

Ethiopian Ambassador’s visit to our booth

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Ethiopian stall at the exhibition

This trade fair comprised several concurrent events which included conferences, exhibitions, B2B meetings and educational/technical tours at and around the Harare area. The event brought together many delegates and exhibitors from Africa, Europe, Asia and other parts of the world. Ethiopia showcased a variety of honeys, wax, candles and honey beverage (Tej).Our show was accompanied by a Traditional Coffee Ceremony in collaboration with the Ethiopian Embassy in Zimbabwe. The Conference also brought together diverse national, regional, continental and global level researchers, policy makers, honey trade support networks (private, public, NGOs), development partners, and other stakeholders on a single platform to discuss and share knowledge on trade and business related approaches to promote apiculture and how it relates to economic empowerment of the African people.

(GA & NB)

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First Apimondia Symposium on African Bees and Beekeeping APIAFRICA 2014 (complete report available from the author)

Summary This event was conceived and planned by APIMONDIA, the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations, whose President Gilles Ratia and whose Secretary General Riccardo Jannoni-Sebastianini actively participated in the events by delivering lectures and chairing session / discussion groups. It was organized in Arusha, Northern Tanzania, by the Tanzania Forest Services Agency, with the following partners:

- Tanzania Forest Fund - Tanzania National Parks - Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority - Tanzania Tourist Board - Arusha International Conference Center AICC

The main objective of this first APIMONDIA Symposium on African Bees and Beekeeping in Africa was to improve the beekeeping industry in Africa and developing countries for the welfare of the rural people, through the following inputs and activities:

- Presentation of research findings and “hard stories” from beekeeper based practices - Discussion of issues raised by beekeepers in order to identify “ways forward” - Create networks among sector actors, specifically producers, buyers and service

providers.

Well over 600 participants attended the symposium conference, round table discussions and beekeeping seminars which were partially conducted in parallel sessions; an estimated 60% of the said participants came from Tanzania while the rest originated from the region and the whole world with more than 25 countries being represented.

During each of the three symposium days, three (four) partially parallel events took place:

- The Symposium Conference (A) in the large auditorium, with (mainly scientific) presentations and discussions (simultaneous translation English / French / Swahili); with national and international participation

- The Round Table Discussions (B), addressing mainly (but not exclusively) regional issues. The sub-groups established during these round table discussions dealt with the following themes: policy, markets, extensive vs. intensive beekeeping; incentives and economics of beekeeping systems for small holders; gender, ethnicity; beekeeping in “hardship” - and protected areas; disease control strategies. Participants were predominantly national and regional, but included international colleagues as well. Presentations and discussions were in English

- The Beekeeping Seminars (C) – from the “locals” to the “locals” – but with regional participation. There seminars addressed the smallholder as well as the more commercial beekeeper. Subjects presented ranged from practical issues such as how to establish an apiary; bee behavior; control and management of diseases and predators to networking, api - therapy, input quality and last not least, how to secure grants from the Tanzania Forest Fund TFF; languages were Swahili and English

While (A) and (C) were conducted from morning till late afternoon, sessions (B) were only held in the afternoon in order to give the audience an opportunity to attend keynote addresses and “international” lectures delivered during (A).

The fourth event – the Exhibition and Poster Presentation – was accessible during the whole day.

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This well presented exhibition was dominated by local organizations from policy, research and practical beekeeping (even including a remarkably well behaved “show bee colony” in a glass sided hive right in the middle of the hall!) and local NGOs, but it also included organizations from abroad such as input providers. APIMONDIA had a booth as well. There were over 10 posters presented, they addressed issues such as pests and diseases; beekeeping practices / management including hive development; breeding and colony occupancy; and api - therapy based on propolis. The following participants came from Ethiopia: Ato Negash Bekena and Ato Tatek Tesfaye, EAB (ASPIRE funding); Ato Tilahun Gebey (Bees for Development), Ato Mulufird Ashagrie (APIMONDIA), Ato Kidane Seyoum (OXFAM) and the author. Some – but by far not all - “Lessons learnt”

- Policy level actively involved The lectures given by H.E. the Prime Minister (an active beekeeper himself) and his colleagues were impressive and a proof of expert knowledge; the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and the Tanzania Forest Service Agency seem to be extremely devoted to their role as promoter and protector of apiculture in the country. Equally impressive was the presence of policy makers / civil servants from the regions and their lively participation in the discussion, this showed their knowledge and their standing. All of them saw the need to compromise: protected areas vs beekeeping and it appeared as if practical solutions are sought.

- Awareness on importance of pollination – also as income for beekeepers (services) A number of presenters stressed the role of pollination for natural regeneration and rehabilitation (through better seeding of trees following bee pollination) and its importance to increase yield in important cash crops like coffee and oil seeds, fruits etc., all of which is a benefit to the country/ nature or to those who own coffee, crops or fruit plantations. And of course to the beekeeper who harvest a better honey crop…However – and this is rarely heard in our part of the world – there was also mention of the benefits which beekeepers may derive from offering pollination services.

- Forests as resource for income and a “green and golden economy” The Tanzanian Forest was in the center of many presentations and discussion thus underlining he role of this huge and important natural (national) resource for apiculture – an experience which we share in Ethiopia. Protecting and developing forests is of key importance for contributing to a “green and golden economy” through apiculture

- Diseases and their control through management – not medication This was a key issue throughout the conference.We are facing varroa- whether the parasite exists “officially” in a country or not. Varroa is around and it transmits viruses. Many presentations and discussions focused on how we may cope with the threat. The South African experience was presented as an example: don’t treat –but manage. Other presenters stressed the same. Moreover: let us use the characteristic hygienic behavior of our bees; let us give them a chance to apply it by not mis-matching hive space and colony size. Do not practice rigorous swarming control: let them swarm: They are “clean”!

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Do not move too rapidly from traditional to modern systems - but protect the bees during traditional practices. Destroying the brood is harsh – but also eliminates varroa mites. But give the bees a chance. Don’t destroy them. (JG)

The Ten Years Honey Development Plan – Ministry of Industry (MoI)

The Ministry of Industry (MoI) contracted Addis Ababa University for a Research Consultancy on developing an “Ethiopian Honey Industry Development Strategy”. The major goal is to create a globally competitive honey industry in Ethiopia within the next decade. The study involves a critical assessment of the domestic systems of production, technology, marketing and regulatory framework of honey and benchmarking of international experience. The international benchmarking study involves an intimate learning of the production, technology and regulatory frameworks of selected countries. To this effect, the team has selected two countries, namely Germany and Turkey, on the basis of their performance in apiculture, and existing strong trade and business relations which includes the export of Ethiopian honey to the European Union. Principal researchers on the part of Addis Ababa University are Dr Teklehaimanot Haileselassie Teklu, Dr Ashenafi Mengistu Wossen and Ato Tsegabirhan Weldegiorgis Abay. The Ministry of Industry asked the Ethiopian Apiculture Board to facilitate the study, specifically share experience and prepare / accompany the international benchmarking studies. Ato Solomon Mengesha and Dr Juergen Greiling have been assigned by the EAB to assist the team of consultants. While the visit to Turkey had to be postponed owing to the un-availability of contacts on the one hand and the short notice on the other, the visit to Germany took place and included all major value chain actors in the key honey production area of Germany, which is in the south-west of the country. The team visited small and large scale honey producers; a major cooperative; an input producer and –supplier; a regional bee keepers association headquarters; a research and quality control laboratory integrated into a university and also interacting with the public (regional) extension service. The visit inspired the team significantly and gave a good example of networking and linkage in a sector which has grown to its present level over more than 150 years. A key message was the importance of strong horizontal and vertical linkages, and the ability of the producers themselves to form strong, self - supporting producer groups which can fulfill their mandate with very limited outside (donor) support. ( JG& Dr Teklehaimanot Haileselassie Teklu / AAU-MoI)

Investigation of Ethiopian Honey

Addis Ababa University, Center for Food Science and Nutrition Abera Belay *): Investigation of Ethiopian Honey: Botanical origin, Physicochemical,

Antioxidant, Microbial Quality, Glycaemic index and Sensory Properties The potential of food to promote health, improve general well-being and reduce the risk of developing certain illnesses is a well - recognized fact. A diet should provide different nutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals) in sufficient quantities to

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satisfy body functions. Among the carbohydrate food, honey is most important in energy and medicinal values. In addition: sweetness, functional advantages and nutritive value are afew of the reasons why honey is a valuable food ingredient. At present there is an increasing interest in science and commerce to investigate monofloral honeys. Investigation of the Ethiopian honey has tremendous benefit, since it provides a brand for Ethiopian honey. About 53,680 tons of honey are produced annually in Ethiopia, this makes the country 1st in Africa and 10th in the world. The Ethiopian honey is by and large from traditional hives. Traditional honey harvesting and processing methods do not have negative effects on the major honey constituents, provided that the honey is properly harvested and handled (Belay et al., 2013). Despite the large number of honey bee colonies, diversified honey plants blooming at different periods of the year, suitable topography and a large amount of crude honey produced in Ethiopia, there is a lack of information on the properties of Ethiopian honeys. The objective of this study is to investigate the Ethiopian honey, with reference to: botanical origin, physicochemical properties, antioxidant level, microbial quality, glycaemic and sensorial property. This research is a novel work for the country that can give substantial scientific information for market promotion and product diversification. 288 honey samples are under collection from South Western, Southern and Northern Ethiopia, using random lottery sampling method, where monofloral honeys are expected to be found. The collected samples are sorted into monofloral honey and analyzed for different attributes:

The Ethiopian honey will be identified based onbotanical origin, physicochemical properties, antioxidant level, microbial quality, glycaemic and sensorial property. This work will certainly add clarity and can generate brands for the Ethiopian honey, and considerably increase the marketability of (monofloral branded) honey. Following investigation, the honey will get a higher niche and help to create market opportunities to benefit both producers and processors through fair price. This benefits and sensitizes the forest dwellers to protect the forest.

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Markets currently exist for honey, but require strengthening of their value chains by investigating the special merit of the honey. With Ethiopia being an agriculture lead developing country, the issues of food security, income generation and reducing poverty through value addition on potential agricultural products like honey are vital. (AB) *) Author’s address: c/o EAB 0911 840655 Supported by:

Lessons from the API ETHIOPIA EXPO 2014

The Api Ethiopia Expo 2014 was undertaken in order to address four major challenges.

• Production challenge • Packaging and quality challenge • Value addition challenge • Marketing and promotion challenge

These were also key issues for the Api Expo Africa 2012 which had been conducted by the EAB in the Millenium Hall in September, 2012. Therefore, the Api Ethiopia Expo 2014 can be considered a “local extension” of the Api Expo Africa 2012. This expo was co - organized by the three sector associations with EHBPEA in the lead. An event organizer was hired as well. The theme of the expo was “Beekeeping for economic growth and transformation of Ethiopia”. The venue was the AA Exhibition Centre near Meskel Square. The expo included an exhibition and two parallel section conferences at the DREAMLINER and ETHIOPIA hotels. The major sponsors of the event were SNV Ethiopia, ACDI-VOCA/AMDe, MoA and Oxfam GB; for such an important support, they should receive warm thanks on the behalf of the sector actors.

• Knowledge on trade and business shared

Achievements The report mentioned as major achievements the following.

• Market requirement clarified • The three sector associations promoted • Participation of 250 exhibitors from all regions • New research findings disseminated

• It was undertaken with too short notice Lessons learnt

• Timing appropriateness was insufficient • Government was not initially targeted as possible sponsor – even if we spent more

time by knocking NGOs door the government played major role by sponsoring exhibitors

• The presence of international participants / external exhibitors is important to get money from donors and for promotion and this presence was unsatisfactory

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• Delay of finance transfer from the sponsors - it caused some farmers to suffer and stay in Addis Ababa for extra hours /days unnecessarily

Challenges

• Long decision making process by donors except SNV • Limited financial capability by associations

Certainly, the API ETHIOPIA EXPO 2014 had a gap regarding the selection for participation of members and stakeholders participant selection, and there is a scope for improvement for the next event (2015) The donors do not have immediate, readily available budgets for this kind of expo. Therefore, securing financial support will be a challenge for future events of this kind, unless we announce it early and thus allow the donors to include it in their next financial year’s budgeting.

( NB &MA)

PRACTICAL HINTS AND CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT

United Republic of Tanzania MINISTRY OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND TOURISM

GUIDELINES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE OF BEE PRODUCTS IN TANZANIA

HONEY

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(Chapters 1 and 2.1 – Honey – of the publication distributed during the APIAFRICA -FIRST APIMONDIA - SYMPOSIUM on African Bees and Beekeeping, November 11-16,

Arusha, Tanzania)

GUIDELINES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE OF BEE PRODUCTS IN TANZANIA 1.0 BACKGROUND Tanzania has a good environment for producing high quality bee products because there are abundant plant species that produce nectar and pollen for honeybees. The main bee products in Tanzania are honey and beeswax. These products are of high quality in the hives. Therefore, they can fetch a high price if the quality is maintained. Honey is mainly used as food and medicine. Honey is used as an essential ingredient in bakeries, confectionaries, cosmetics, beverages and pharmaceutical. Beeswax has several uses; these include candle making, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, polish, batiks and many others. Only a small amount of beeswax is used locally for candle making and batiks and the rest of it is exported. According to the National Beekeeping Policy of March 1998 and National Beekeeping Programme of November 2001 Tanzania produces about 4,860 tons of honey and about 324 tons of beeswax per year. On average the country exports 500 tons of honey and 282 tons of beeswax per year (FBD 2004). The main buyers of Tanzanian honey are Germany, United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Belgium. The main buyers of beeswax are Japan, The Netherlands, United States of America and Germany. Despite of the big market for honey and beeswax, producers are less exposed to quality standards suitable for domestic or external market hence resulting in fetching low prices. In view of this problem these guidelines has been produced by the Forestry and Beekeeping Division in accordance with part3of the Beekeeping General Regulation of 2005, to guide beekeeping staff, beekeepers, dealers and other stakeholders on quality assurance of bee products. 2.0 COMPOSITION AND CHARACTERISTICS OF HONEY AND BEESWAX Honey is defined as sweet substance produced by the honeybees from the nectar of blossoms or from secretions of living parts of plants, or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of the plants, which the honeybees collect, transform and combine with specific substances of their own, deposit, remove water, store and leave to ripen and mature in honey combs. 2.1 Composition of Honey Honey is composed primarily of sugars and water. On average honey contains about 79.6% sugar and 17.2% water. The primary sugars are fructose (38.2%) and glucose (31.3%). These are simple sugars that are readily absorbed by the body. Other sugars include maltose (7.3%) and sucrose (1.3%). Honey also contains acids

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(0.57%), some proteins (0.26%), a small amount of minerals (0.17%) and a number of other minor components including pigments. 2.1.1 Characteristics of honey Honey has the following characteristics that makes it the most appropriate for several uses: (a) Antibacterial properties Presence of high sugar content, hydrogen peroxide and high acidity in honey prohibits the growth of microorganisms. Antibacterial properties of honey are reduced or removed when it is subjected to change from its natural condition. (b) Hygroscopic properties of honey Hygroscopy is the tendency of honey to absorb moisture from the air, this depends on relative humidity of the environment and amount of moisture in honey. The lower the moisture content in honey, the higher is its tendency of absorbing moisture from the air. (c) Viscosity of honey This is the property of liquid honey that affects its tendency to flow. The higher the viscosity, the slower the honey will flow. This property is affected by the amount of moisture in honey and temperature. Honey with low water content flows relatively slow and an increase in temperature reduces its viscosity. (d) Formation of Hydroxyl- Methyl-Furfural (HMF) Hydroxyl-Methyl-Furfural (HMF) is a product formed when a solution of sugars containing fructose in acid media is heated. Fructose, one of the sugars found in honey is very sensitive to heat. Once subjected to heat, fructose forms HMF and the color of honey changes to dark brown. Storage of honey at room temperature for long periods also denatures the fructose in honey resulting into formation of HMF. This is an indicator of honey freshness (honey which is recently harvested and not been subjected to high temperatures) and whether it has been overheated. In fresh honey there is practically no HMF but it increases upon storage depending on pH of honey and storage temperature. Recommended standard of HMF content is not more than 40mg/kg. (e) Aroma and flavor substances Honey has characteristic taste and smell. These depend mainly on where the bees collected the nectar and pollen. As many plant flowers have different aroma and flavors, the same goes to honey. For instance, honey from sunflower farm may taste and smell differently from that of “miombo” woodlands or the mangroves. There are as many different flavors as there are plant nectar sources. (f) Granulation Granulation is a tendency of honey to form crystals. This tendency is related to honey composition and storage conditions. Some honeys never granulate while others will do so within a short time after extraction, or even in the comb. The two major sugars in honey (fructose and glucose) are the main factor determining the tendency of honey to granulate. The higher the glucose, the faster honey granulates and the higher the fructose the slower it granulates. Other factors, which favor granulation, are low temperatures and high colloidal content. (g) Fermentation Fermentation of honey is caused by the action of sugar-tolerant yeasts upon levulose and dextrose, resulting in the formation of alcohol and carbon dioxide. The alcohol in the presence of oxygen then may be broken down into acetic acid and water. As a result, honey that has fermented has a sour taste. The main factors in honey fermentation are yeast, high moisture contents and temperature. (h) Moisture content Honey having high moisture content is more likely to ferment. Under the EU and Tanzania standards a maximum of 21 % has been set. However under Tanzania conditions, the values of 21 % are very seldom attained except honey from stingless honeybees which range from 20-25%. (i) Mineral content The non-volatile inorganic residue after ignition of honey is referred to as ash, and its separate components as minerals. Most of these are metals, some of which are present in

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only minute amounts and are called trace elements. The minerals, e.g. potassium, chlorine, originate from the soil and get into honey via the plants. Minerals are among the many components little mineral matter and dark honeys contain more mineral matter. ü) Diastase content Diastase content is a quality factor influenced by shelf life, temperature and use of heat when processing. It is therefore an indicator of freshness and overheating. Although there is a large natural variation of diastase, the minimum Diastase Number (ON) of 8 is set as minimum. (k) Water insoluble solids Water insoluble solids refer to pollen, combs, debris, bee and filth particles are important means to detect honey impurities. Water insoluble solids content for honey in EU and Tanzania Standards is not more than 0.1 % for extracted honey while for pressed honey is not more than 0.5%

NEW ACTIVITIES „Honey Training“ in Supe / Illubabor The Ethiopian Apiculture Board (EAB) assisted the LEARNING FOR LIFE Foundation from Switzerland to improve apiculture activities in Supe / Illubabor where an apiculture producer group has been established. This group includes unemployed youths. The group constructed a “honey house” including a store, with water connection and sanitary facilities.This new honey house with tap water (and a solar hot water system, yet to be installed) will allow the demonstration and routine implementation of hygienic practices from the honey harvest to the market. The EAB offers a one-week “honey training” in Supe during the second half of December – “from the hive right into the jar”. We demonstrate clean harvesting, protection of the combs from moisture; extraction or pressing and filtration and filling jars with an electronic balance. Likewise, honey storage in barrels (and protection from moisture) and the production of creamy honey (avoiding solidification) are shown. (JG)

First „Female Graduate Beekeepers Training“at Mettu University The Ethiopian Apiculture Board, jointly with Mettu University, organizes the first “Female Graduate Beekeepers Training” at Mettu University. This is the same 20 –day – course as previously offered at Assela School of Agriculture by the EAB. The course is a mix of theory, demonstration and practice and is conducted together with practical beekeepers in the area.The course started on December 15, 2014 and will conclude with a written exam and the handing – over of certificates on January 3rd, 2015. This course marks the beginning of a three year programme at Mettu University which aims at giving apiculture a place in teaching and practice – this will be feasible as the university will establish an apiary. The programme is financially supported by LEARNING FOR LIFE, a Swiss foundation, and will be accompanied and guided by the EAB. During the first course, which is attended by 30 female graduate students, journalists from Switzerland will also be present. By reporting on the course, they intend to start a fund raising campaign which is supposed to support the new female beekeepers in establishing their own businesses. (JG)

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Upcoming Events – Tentative Schedule ApiEthiopia – Expo 2015 Planned for March 2015 Regional MSPs Under way National MSP May 2015 ApiMondia 2015 Sept 2015 African MSP on Bees Nov 2015 African MSP EC meeting April 2015

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