More than 70% of Tanzanians live in rural areas and they depend on agriculture to survive. The drying climate, unstable market prices for their produce, and lack of access to local and global markets are the main three challenges keeping these farmers in the cycle of poverty.
Swahili Honey is a sustainable beekeeping and honey production brand that aggregates and sells high quality honey produced by its network of rural smallholder farmers, empowering them to take control of their own lives. Swahili Honey gives farmers access to free beekeeping training, access to advanced beekeeping equipment loans, extension services and a guaranteed market for the honey they produce. Our business model focuses on elimination middleman who tends to exploit farmers by paying lower prices for their honey.
We have done this by:
- Manufacturing and supply beehives and other beekeeping equipment necessary to farmers.
- Free training on hive management and modern harvesting methods to ensure a consistent, high-quality product.
- Aggregation, processing and packaging in our own facilities, guaranteeing a market to our farmers.
- In-house sales and distribution, both domestically to retail stores, hotels, restaurants and exports to Kenya and the United Arab Emirates.
- Creating a network of farmers, 500 today, aiming to grow to 5,000 by the end of 2020
Tanzania has, a capacity of over 9.2 million bee colonies and production potential of 138,000 tons of honey and 9,200 tons of beeswax per annum. In 2015, Tanzania produced only 20,000 tons and exported only 410 tons of beeswax.
