With honey production still low in the country compared to demand, beekeepers are suggesting different ways to help fix the deficit.

One of the big investments needed to increase honey production is producing eco-friendly pesticides because the chemical pesticides presently used are killing bees, and consequently, reducing honey production, Elias Uwizeyimana, a beekeeper from Ngeruka Sector, in Bugesera District told Doing Business.

Uwizeyimana has about 100 beehives from which he harvests 200 litres of honey every three months.

The quantity could double, Uwizeyimana said, if chemical pesticides are not used in the area.

A recent study by conservation researcher, Elias Bizuru, shows that in Nyamasheke District, honey production, in one case, shifted from five tons per year down to 0.5 tons per year, corresponding to a loss of 90 per cent.

The findings are from a study dubbed "Agroecology in Rwanda: status, opportunities and challenges” that investigated the issue of chemical pesticides and chemical fertilizers in eight districts – Gisagara, Rubavu, Gicumbi, Nyamasheke, Musanze, Bugesera, Nyaruguru and Huye.

At least 2, 635 farmers in the Districts were interviewed.

The research shows that 17 per cent of households use Cypermethrin pesticide, 19.2 percent use Dithane, 55 percent use Rocket pesticide, 4.6 per cent use Thioda, 2.7 per cent use Ridomil and 1.6 per cent use Beam, all of which contribute to killing bees.

These pesticides are mainly used for crops such as rice, maize, tomatoes, Irish potatoes, eggplants, beans and cabbages among others.

"Government and innovators should invest in pesticides that do not kill bees. That could be very good news for beekeepers,” Uwizeyimana said.

Leveraging forests

Uwizeyimana urged the government to allocate state forests to beekeepers across the country so as to attract more people especially unemployed youth, in apiculture business.

He added that people should also plant more forests especially agro-forestry in their farms.

"While we need to increase forests and protect them to be used for beekeeping in the country, it could be fruitless if bees in these forests find food in nature that is polluted by chemical pesticides.”

Uwizeyimana owns a forest where he is doing apiculture.

In order to increase honey production, he noted, there is also a need for manufacturing special food for bees.

"We try to use water, flour from cassava and cereals, banana juice as supplementary food for bees, among others. But there is a need for standard foods that can feed bees and increase honey production,” he said.

Jean de Dieu Kwizera, a beekeeper depending on a state owned forest in Gasabo District said allocating state forests to the youth could fight unemployment as well as fix the deficit in honey production.

Kwizera harvests between 1.5 tons (1,500 kilos) and 2.0 tons of honey, every year, from his modern beehives.

"The government should work closely with people to conserve biodiversity, especially forests where apiculture can be carried out. There is need for training farmers and beekeepers and also work on finding solutions to chemical pesticides that are killing bees and reducing honey production. Beekeepers again need modern equipment,” Kwizera said.

The Rwanda Agriculture and Animal Resources Development Board (RAB) is of the view that solutions for the decline of bees due to pesticide use include mobilization and sensitization of farmers on how to use the pump while applying pesticide outside the flower, more research on pesticides which are less toxic as well as planting more melliferous plants, or crops which are bee-friendly. A melliferous flower is a plant which produces substances that can be collected by insects and turned into honey.

"RAB has started trying biodegradable and bee-friendly pesticides before their mainstreaming at large scale. We are also facilitating advocacy to plant bee-friendly trees,” Solange Uwituze, the Deputy Director General in charge of Animal Resources Research and Technology Transfer at RAB, told Doing Business.

She added: "RAB will continue working with beekeepers’ unions to improve production by availing proper equipment for queen rearing and bee colony multiplication techniques.”

Can state forests fix the 11,000 tons deficit?

Uwituze told Doing Business that honey production was at 5,800 tons in the 2020/21 period, a slight increase from 5,500 tons in 2019/20 and 4,738 in 2015.

The current demand is 17,000 tons of honey, annually, according to RAB.

Production remains far from targets in Rwanda’s strategic plan for agriculture transformation phase 4 (PSTA 4), covering the period 2018-2024.

The government projected 6,595 tons in 2019/2020; 6,988 tons in 2020/21; 7,302 tons in 2021/22; 7,655 tons in 2022/23; and 8,611 in 2023/24.

Uwituze said RAB pursued partnerships with the Rwanda Forestry Authority to allocate state forests that are not protected parks to beekeepers for increasing production by engaging more youth.

According to Spridio Nshimiyimana, acting Director General of the Rwanda Forestry Authority, the government wants to allocate 48,803 hectares, or 80 per cent, of state forests to private operators for management, by the year 2024. Privatising the management of state forests is seen as one way of increasing revenues from the forestry sector.

So far, the government has allocated 38.45 per cent of state forests to private operators, so as to ensure improved management of forests.

"So far only four districts (Nyamasheke, Rusizi, Nyaruguru and Huye) were committed to avail forests for beekeepers. We are   still waiting for feedback from the other Districts,” Uwituze said.

Eight cooperatives in Nyamasheke, two in Huye, four in Rusizi and two in Nyaruguru were permitted to do beekeeping in state forests.

"It depends on the requirements of the concerned District. All Districts with natural forests have opportunities for beekeepers. Honey production is currently estimated to be 5, 800 tons and we want to reach 8, 611tonnes in 2024,” Uwituze said.

Nshimiyimana said that while the government is privatizing the management of state forests, beekeepers should also work with investors to gain space for apiculture.

"Privatization is at 38.45 per cent. All state forests can do beekeeping apart from protected areas such as parks where it is prohibited,” he said.

Numbers show that the government owns 27 per cent of the total forests, equivalent to 65,000 hectares without considering national parks.

Forests currently occupy 30.4 per cent, equivalent to 724,662 hectares across the country.

Of these, 53 per cent of the country’s forests are plantations, 21 per cent wooded savannas in the east, and 19 per cent natural mountain rainforests while 6.2 per cent are shrubs.