By CHARITY MOONGA –

The International Trade Centre (ITC) and Parodi Group, an Argentina-based honey producer and trader, have teamed up to boost the quality and production of Zambian honey to increase exports from the country.
Through the partnership, Parodi will provide advice and technical assistance to Zambian beekeepers free of charge.
This is according to the ITC website and the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA).
In Zambia, ITC and its local partners will select companies and beekeepers to work with and receive training from ITC and Matrunita Mediterranea, Parodi’s Italy-based subsidiary.
According to the ITC, this collaboration is part of ITC’s Promoting Intraregional Trade in Eastern Africa project, which aims at stepping up cooperation between larger and smaller private-sector enterprises to achieve sustainable development.
“Launching this partnership between ITC and Parodi is only the first step in what we hope will be a long-term relationship that overcomes geographic boundaries. We aim to create a gateway to international markets for African honey producers,”  ITC deputy executive director, Dorothy Tembo said.
The goal of the collaboration  signed at ITC’s Geneva headquarters is not only to move Zambian honey producers up the value chain through improved quality, but to integrate producers into Parodi’s global distribution network. If successful, the project will be replicated in Tanzania.
According to Parodi, the African continent holds the future of beekeeping and continued expansion in the honey industry. Increasing
consumption of honey worldwide in recent years has resulted in demand outstripping supply.
Parodi Group and Sole Administrator of Matrunita Mediterranea Chief Operating Officer Santiago Herrero said ‘Selling honey is about telling stories, and I think together with ITC, we will be able to amplify the voice of all the farmers and beekeepers and tell their story to the customers. Trade can empower and create a better life for them.’
For ITC, Parodi is a good match, the company moves 25,000 tonnes of honey every year, equivalent to 5.5 per cent of the world’s honey trade.
It has acquisition centres in Europe, the Middle East and South America and as such are participants in South-North trade and South-South trade.