Introduction
This business idea is for keeping bees for production of honey and bee wax. The Revenue potential is estimated at US$ 10,400 per year with the project cost of US$ 7,345 and a profit margin of 73%. The expected payback period is 7 month.
Process Description
Bee hives are opened after the bees have been smoked out using a smoke pump, honeycombs are pressed by hand. Honey is separated from the wax using pressing machines to produce better quality honey. Honey from a honeycomb is extracted, warmed, strained and bottled.
| Capital Investment Requirements in US Dollars | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item | Unit | Qty | @ | Total |
| Centrifuge Machine | No. | 1 | 3,396 | 3,396 |
| Wooden beehives | No. | 50 | 16.71 | 836 |
| Smoker pumps | No. | 1 | 25.8 | 26 |
| Buckets | No. | 5 | 3 | 15 |
| Hive tools | No. | 4 | 1.5 | 6 |
| Protective wears | No. | 4 | 15 | 60 |
| Filtering sieves | No. | 4 | 1.5 | 6 |
| Land | Acre | 3 | 1000 | 3,000 |
| TC of Machinery | 7,345 | |||
Production and Operating Costs in US$
| Direct Materials, Supplies and Costs | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost Item | Units | @ | Qty/ | Prod. | Prod. Cost/ | Prod.Cost/ |
| day | cost | month | year | |||
| Bee wax | Kgs | 0.6 | 10 | 6 | 156 | 1,872 |
| Sub total | 156 | 1,872 | ||||
General costs (Overheads)
| Utilities (power) | 15 | 180 |
|---|---|---|
| (Utilities (water) | 15 | 180 |
| Salaries | 50 | 600 |
| Sub-total | 80 | 960 |
| Total Operating costs | 236 | 2,832 |
Production assumed 4 quarters per year
Direct costs include: materials, supplies and other costs that directly go into production of the product.
Project product cost and Price structure in US$
| Item | Period | out put | UPx | Total cost | Total Revenue |
| Honey | Per quarter | 200 | 7 | 4.515 | 1,400 |
| Per Year | 800 | 7 | 4.515 | 5,600 | |
| Bee wax | Per quarter | 150 | 8 | 6.02 | 1,200 |
| Per year | 600 | 4,800 | |||
| Total | 10,400 |
Profitability analysis in US$
| Profitability item | Per Quarter | Rev per year |
| Revenue | ||
| Honey | 1,400 | 5,600 |
| Bee wax | 1200 | 4800 |
| Sub total | 2,600 | 10,400 |
| Less Prod & Operating Costs | 903 | 2,832 |
| Profit | 1,697 | 7,568 |
Market Demand
There is high demand for honey for home consumption, pharmaceutical use in making drugs and in most instances it has replaced the sugar intake among people with health complications. Some beekeepers salvage the combs to extract wax for making candles or at times it is mixed with maize flour to make ice-cream cones. In addition, wax is demanded by cobblers, makers of household textiles and garments.
Government Incentives Available:
Government is supporting bee farmers through the National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) Programme funding the activities and finding a market for products.
Source of Information:
Ugandan Beekeepers Association
Faculty of Forestry and Nature Conservation (Makerere University) and National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO)
Risk involved in the Business:
The risk involved in this business is that there is never a “superhive”, which could potentially disrupt the bees if there is an interruption. However, this can be mitigated through making diverse bee hives.
