Interview: “Honey fetches FCFA 30-40 million to Oku annually”

Bang George, Manager Oku Honey Cooperatives, talks about the path the product has covered since certification by OAPI, its huddles and prospects.

How is the famous Oku white honey faring today after its certification by OAPI?

After the certification of Oku white honey, many people have come to understand that there exists white honey in Cameroon. As such, the stockpiles that we used to have are almost liquidating. Many people are also getting involved in bee keeping so as to benefit from the wide market offered by the certification.

We used to produce between 13-15 metric tons of honey per annum but even though what we have has fallen to eight-ten metric tons because so many people are involved in the sale of the product diverting much of what is produced, the market mechanism now is progressing as many people are increasingly involved in white honey consumption.

There are so many recalcitrant buying agents who surface only during the honey harvesting season to buy huge quantities of the unprocessed product. They process it in places we do not know and we only find the product in the market.

How much money is brought into Oku through the sale of white honey?

We do estimate that an average of FCFA 30-40 million is pumped into the economy of Oku through the sale of its white honey. This is through the number of members that we have in the Oku White Honey Farmers Association. But I must say here that it is difficult to give an exact amount of income through the white honey given that there are so many people clandestinely buying and processing honey.

We have close to 3,200 members affiliated to the association belonging to several cooperatives and common initiative groups between Oku, Belo, Fundong and Jakiri areas. As at now, all the dealers in the Oku white honey are all based in Cameroon mostly from Bamenda, Douala, Buea, Yaounde and the like. They come to buy for the national and international markets.

What are the stages involved between production and sale of the product?

The process to get Oku white honey is very tedious as bee farmers have to construct hives, take them to the colonized zones which are mostly grasslands where swarming is possible . The colonized hives are then transported back to the forest where they will get the white honey.

In the forest, it is already observed and kept as a practice that there is a period for harvesting and Oku honey by its virtue cannot be processed under 24 hours. So, when the producers harvest the honey they rush to the processing unit where the honey is processed.

Which are the standards for the honey to go through the certification process?

At the level of standards put in place by the certification units, bee farmers who get into the activity must first of all know how to construct hives and know that these hives have to be transferred to colonized zones after which they must be installed in delimitation areas of the forest designated for white honey production.

There, they have to observe the hives from time to time, use the necessary equipment that are prescribed for honey production and after harvesting the honey, they must observe to see that they follow the harvesting practice that has been put in place. After this, they transfer the honey to processing centres for trained experts to examine it to ascertain that the harvesting procedure was well observed.

These practices include not harvesting under rain, using clean dry buckets and once the product is acceptable, it is then processed in the prescribed processing method.

Why is white honey found only in Oku? Are there specific bees for that? When you colonise your hive in the grassland area or in a hot zone and allow it there, you harvest but brown honey. But if the bees of the same caravan that were in the grassland are transferred to the forest, the bees produce white honey.

This white honey comes from designated zone because of the background reputation; the climatic conditions as well as the geographical area characterized by the nature of flowering trees like nausea congesta and nausea moris etc. All these trees are only found in the forest. Oku forest is highly rich in biodiversity with rich medicinal flora and herbs that combine to bring out the white honey.

How did Oku honey come to be certified by OAPI?

By 2001, we deemed it necessary that the Oku white honey used clandestinely by recalcitrant sellers needed to move forward. We contacted SNV and they gave us market information and we also moved round Cameroon to see the methods people were using and adulterating many products and selling in the name of Oku white honey.

With all of these, we applied to the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development to ask for a patent right for the product. The Minister took it seriously and forwarded the application among the 261 files to OAPI in 2001. In the course of selection, Oku white honey and Penja white pepper were selected from Cameroon.

In 2006, the protocol agreement was signed between the government of Cameroon, OAPI, Oku honey and Penja white pepper. Between 2006 and 2010 that we realized the materialization of the certification right, we passed through so many stages.

Which are the difficulties Oku white honey faces today as a product and your association and what do you think could be done to salvage the situation? The producer organisations lack liquidity to facilitate their activities.

For example, the packaging system is still a problem likewise transportation within the delimitation zone. The three zones involved in production are not easily accessible and this makes the collection of the product for processing as well as gathering statistics on what quantity is produced where difficult.

Also, they are so many people involved in the honey production whose capacities are still very low. They need to be trained to get abreast with the production norms in place. There is also laxity in control reason why people continue to adulterate the product.

How can one differentiate the certified Oku white honey from that clandestinely produced?

There is a logo to differentiate certified Oku white honey and others found in the market. Besides this, there is also the logo of the Oku Honey Cooperative.

It is still the first logo existing and the additional logo is that of certification from OAPI. Within the system of the farmers association, every person who has undergone his production using the certification norms would use the logo to show that the product has been certified.