The cooperative invested in bee keeping as an income generating activity and as a way of conserving the environment. Honey produced by this cooperative is pure and processed in a very hygienic environment.

Our Main Products

Group Information

[Support from OVOP/JICA]
Training and marketing. OVOP Secretariat financed a factory shell and a packaging machine.
[Support from Other Organizations]
World vision: training and 50 beehives.
[Contribution by members]
MK 3,000 per member as 3 shares of the Cooperative (half of the members have already paid out). Before the cooperative was formed, the membership fee of the group was MK100 per member.
[Support by District Assembly]
Supervision of the factory shell.
[Background]
In 2002, World Vision provided training for group formation (50 members) and the bee-keeping technique to the Group, donating 50 bee-hives. Afterwards, the Group increased bee-hives to 300. Local carpenters make a beehive with local timber at MK3,500. Seeing the profitability of honey making, some members purchased bee-hives individually, which has amounted to 100. The number of members doubled due to the successful sale of honey.

Strength and Opportunities

[Materials]
Bee-hives are made from local materials. The Cooperative is considering purchasing honey from a non-member residing close-by (owner of 3,000 beehives), once the factory is completed and the operation with the machine started.
[Product]
Package and label improved through OVOP's support.
[Market]
All the products are sold through OVOP Secretariat to supermarkets and trade fairs. A total of 3,000 bottles have been sold in the first half of 2008.
[Production]
The sales revenues have so far been used to increase production capacity. The Group's maximum capacity of production is 500 bottles/month. The Group wishes to further increase the number of beehives by using the capital collected from members.
[Quality Control]
There is a person responsible for quality control. The people who produce honey wear aprons and gloves.

Challenges

[Production]
The Cooperative has only four bee-suits (MK 5,000 per pair), which is one of the constraints against increase of production.
[Product]
Sealing of the top of the honey bottle is not tight; thus honey sometimes seeps out.
[Marketing]
Encouraged by the success of honey sale, the Cooperative members are trying to increase the production. However, a large market is not yet secured.
[Distribution]
The Cooperative is dependent solely on OVOP Secretariat for the outlets of its product. Very little effort has been made to explore new market opportunities.
[Waste]
Although the Cooperative wishes to learn how to produce candles and polishing materials by utilizing honey wax, they do not know the methodology.