Ghana Life: beekeeping in the tropics
Kwame Mainu and his English friend, Tom Arthur, travel back to Kumasi in July 1986 from Kwame’s mother’s hometown of Wenchi in the Brong-Ahafo region. With them is Kwame’s half-sister, Adjoa, who is going to Kumasi to buy shoes to sell at her kiosk on Wenchi High Street. Along the way they plan to visit Sunyani, the capital of the Brong-Ahafo region and home to Ghana’s largest beekeeper with a thriving export market on the nearby border with Côte d’Ivoire. It was Tom’s chance to learn about the promise of tropical beekeeping as a widespread cottage industry and potentially a major employer in deprived rural areas of Ghana.
Kwame told Tom about Kwesi Ansah, an oil palm farmer who had learned beekeeping at the Technology Consulting Center (TCC) of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, and was now the largest producer of honey. from Ghana with more than 300 beehives. Kwesi had organized a group of local people to put pressure on the regional administration to make all the necessary preparations for the ITTU’s arrival. Kwame had invited Kwesi to join them for lunch at a restaurant in Sunyani, but first they could visit Kwesi at his mini-industrial complex near the market.
They found Kwesi at his workplace. Her bald head reflecting the morning sun was dwarfed by his wide smile and warm greeting from her. Tom sensed at once that here was a man of outstanding ability, a natural leader. He was eager to show visitors all that he had accomplished in the short time since he contacted the TCC. “I started with beekeeping,” he began, “then I decided to make my own beehives and set up a carpentry workshop. Now I supply beehives to my neighbors in the Brong-Ahafo region and also train them in beekeeping in my apiary and help in any way I can to start with. At the TCC in Kumasi I also saw some machines for grinding maize and making cassava gari, so I brought some of these machines here to demonstrate these activities and sell the services. My main business was growing palm oil, so that I bought presses and boiling tanks from TCC to produce my own palm oil. Now I have plans to buy a soap plant and use the palm oil to produce soap.”
Tom marveled at this entrepreneurial zeal. This man had transferred several important rural industrial technologies from Kumasi to Sunyani, some 130 kilometers away, provided important new services for the community and created jobs for many people. With such people scattered throughout the country, the ITTU program could not fail in its quest to generate base industries in all regions. Tom was impressed that local progressive businessmen like Kwesi Ansah in Sunyani and Alhajji Issah Masters in Tamale had jumped on board and been persuaded to support the introduction of ITTU in their region. It was clear that these people were convinced that the University of Science and Technology could provide direct help to the grassroots industries in their locality.
Kwesi Ansah joined them in the Land Rover to visit their apiary on the oil palm plantation. They set off in a northwesterly direction towards Bechem on the road to the Ivory Coast border. Near Nsuatre, Kwesi’s hometown, they turned left and were soon at the plantation. Kwesi told Kwame to park the vehicle and they headed out for what they were warned would be a long walk.
Adjoa said that he was not interested in long walks and that he had seen oil palms before. Tom looked with relief at the arching palm trees and realized that they would be walking in the shade. With a sweep of his arm, Kwesi indicated the wide expanse of his land, all covered in oil palms. Leaving Adjoa seated beside the vehicle, the three men plunged into the dark shadows that filled the avenues between the trees. Tom tried to divert his thoughts from the reptilian fauna that might inhabit these shady paths and grassy gardens. He concentrated on following closely where Kwesi had stepped as he excitedly led his visitors deeper and deeper into the heart of his domain.
They did not attempt to count how many beehives they saw scattered under the oil palms over a wide area. They greeted occasional pairs of workers who were diligently engaged in various aspects of hive management, including the important harvest of honey. Kwesi explained that unlike England, where honey could only be produced in the summer, bees here were active year-round. There were no cold winter months during which the bees needed to be fed. Tom inquired about honey production and Kwesi said that some hives could produce up to 15 liters a year, although the average was closer to 5 litres. He showed Tom his honey store currently stocked with three full 200 liter oil drums. The beeswax, molten in cylinders about 20 cm in diameter and 8 cm thick, was piled on the roof of the shed. “Can you help us find markets for beeswax?” Kwesi asked, “I’ve read that it has over a hundred industrial uses.”
Tom inquired about local uses for beeswax and Kwame told him that there was a small demand from the traditional investment casting industry and screen printing people, but beekeepers were now producing well above of local demand. Part of the problem was that the Kenyan top bar hive produced more wax and less honey than a modern European hive. The Kenya hive was billed as an easy-to-handle hive for beginning beekeepers, but experienced beekeepers like Kwesi should move on to a new framed hive now featured by TCC. When bees produced honey in a framed comb, they wasted very little honey in producing wax. The comb in its frame was replaced in the hive after the honey was extracted and the only wax the bees made was to cap the cells. With the introduction of framed hives, honey production would increase and wax production would decrease.
Tom asked Kwame why the framed hive hadn’t been featured sooner. They told him that they were waiting for the introduction of the centrifuge that was needed to extract the honey from the frames. It was only recently that locally made centrifuges became available. Kwesi said he would order a centrifuge from SRS Engineering the next time he went to Kumasi.
Then Tom asked about the export prospects for beeswax. Kwame told him that the TCC had done research on the international market and that there was scope to supply industrialized countries, but the real benefit would come if the beeswax could be processed to remove its color and odor. This had been demonstrated experimentally by Professor Kuffuor in the university’s chemistry department. In this condition, it could serve as a raw material for the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries for the production of products as varied as lipsticks and ovules. Kwame had also heard that the Roman Catholic Church required that all its candles be made of pure beeswax. At present, all beekeepers are advised to store their beeswax in anticipation of finding markets in the not too distant future.
