In an effort to boost honey production in Nigeria and the West African sub-region, the Benin Owena River Basin Development Authority (BORBDA) has signed a memorandum of Understanding with off-takers of honey and bee products.

The MOU was signed in Benin City at the weekend by the Managing Director, Mr. Saliu Osifuemhe Ahmed, the representatives of Koster Keunen West Africa and Old Levi Multibiz Services Ltd.

Another co-signatory in the agreement was the Managing Director of Dino Trust Global Company Ltd, Mr Innocent Odigie, a bee keeping expert, who signed on behalf of his company.

The corporate bodied agreed to collaborate in the business of providing the necessary platform to buy off all honey and bee products in the state especially, by those produced by the graduate trainees on bee keeping under the auspices of BORBDA in its catchment states of Edo, Delta, Ondo and Ekiti.

Speaking at the ceremony, which took place at the corporate headquarters of BORBDA, the Managing Director of BORBDA, Saliu Ahmed said the agreement was a further proof of the agency’s commitment to providing a ready market to the honey and bee products, produced by bee farmers trained under the agency’s Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneur Scheme.

According to Armed,

The involvement of the off-takers with the bee farmers, will from now onwards boost the confidence and trust of the bee keeping business knowing full well that whatever they produce would be off taken in the most competitive price.

He urged the stakeholders especially, the state governments and traditional rulers to encourage modern bee keeping and honey production given its suitability in the local environment.

In his brief remarks, representative of Koster Keunen West Africa the foreign lead agency in the MOU, Mr. Nasser Bembah Bahisa, expressed confidence that the agreement would provide the tonic needed to grow the honey and bee products business in Nigeria and indeed the West African sub-region.

He urged the bee farmers to take advantage of the market to expand their respective bee colonies for increased yields.

Also, representatives of Old Levi Multibiz Services Ltd, Femi Awoyemi while speaking on behalf of other foreign partners, expressed their commitment to the agreement with BORBDA, with a view to increasing the production of honey and bee products in Nigeria and indeed, the West African sub-region through an effective marketing strategy of the products.

Awoyemi, however, expressed concern that Nigeria is yet to get its optimum in the production of honey and other bee products due to some environmental factors such as pre-harvest theft and destruction of honey fields by unauthorised persons, and poor processing of the bye-products, which reduces their market value.

On her part, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Edo State, Mrs. Akongie Oboh commended the BORBDA for the concept of modern bee keeping in the state and expressed the state governments determination to key into the programme with a view to expanding the current scheme to accommodate more youths in the state in line with the state government efforts at empowering more youths through agribusiness.

Highpoints of the ceremony was the formal signing of the MOU by the managing director of BORBDA, and representatives of Koster Keunen West Africa, Old Levi Multibiz Services Ltd and Dino Trust Company Limited.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.