Agri Portal South Africa

Sindiswa Teyise proudly declares that the “bee is my boss”. However, these flying insects call the shots way beyond Teyise’s Makana Meadery (MM).

In 2005, the Food and Agriculture Organisation estimated that 71 out of 100 crop species which provide 90% of food worldwide are pollinated by bees. With a global collapse of bee colonies, beekeeping efforts are under way around the world to help mitigate this “pollinator crisis”.

In South Africa, the practice of tending bees affects more than commercial food production. Rural households in particular can derive economic benefits.

As we struggle to generate enough honey for domestic and international demand, beekeeping becomes an important agricultural activity to meet this export demand in South Africa. Even the by-products of honey production can be lucrative; beeswax, propolis, royal jelly and bee venom are rich in carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins.

MM uses the Cape Honey Bee for producing its preferred honey by product, iQhilika, or mead, made from fermented honey and water.

Since inception in 2000, MM has been producing this alcoholic beverage, which takes 80 minutes to ferment and one month to mature. The reputation of their mead is growing abroad. MM’s Honey Sun Mead is now sold in 37 American states.

For two consecutive years (2006 and 2007) MM’s African Herbal Mead won a gold medal at the International Mead Festival in Colorado.

Their spicy African Bird’s Eye Chilli Mead also won a silver medal in its category in 2007.

Although local demand for mead varies annually, MM produces 150 000 bottles of mead every year.

In addition to making mead, MM also produces mead vinegar, honey mead mustard and a range of honey-based jams and marmalades.

MM is not just lauded abroad; in the Eastern Cape MM’s beekeeping training is sought after. Participants progress through two levels of training. The first level teaches basic beekeeping literacy and includes an introduction to honey extraction and processing.

Participants learn about maintaining a small-scale beekeeping operation and developing value-added products in the second phase.

More than 300 people have been trained from Baviaanskloof to Hluleka in Eastern Cape and MM has conducted training as far afield as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Up to 20 participants per group can receive beekeeping training in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa.

This poverty-alleviating dimension of MM supports mostly rural women or grandmothers in tending bees successfully and selling their honey to local suppliers and MM.

Individuals can earn up to R2 000 a harvest in this way.

MM is not just a socially responsive commercial enterprise, it is also focuses on environmental best-practice. Mead-making uses less water than producing wine, as it does not require cultivated land or irrigation, while beekeeping is an effective conservation tool.

MM also uses the patent of co-founder, Garth Cambray, to produce mead in an environmentally sustainable way. A sawmill on the premises of MM manufactures wood for beehives.

Cambray is experimenting with converting sunflower oil into biodiesel on a larger scale in the province.

Social enterprises like MM demonstrate the innovation and social will that exist around South Africa.

Government should build its provincial skills development strategies on these local income-generating hubs. (The Citizen)