By HELEN ZULU –
THE Zambia Honey Partnership (ZHP) has called on government to develop a beekeeping policy that will guide the development of the honey sector.
ZHP chairperson Mushimbwe Chitalu said there was need for government to develop a beekeeping policy that would guide the development of the honey sector in the country.
Mr Chitalu said ZHP would endeavor to engage the relevant government ministries and departments to ensure that the framework became a reality to guide sector to higher heights.
He said this at the ZHP dissemination meeting in Lusaka yesterday.
“Government should develop a beekeeping policy that will guide the development of the honey sector in the country,” Mr Chitalu said.
He noted that beekeeping could play a significant role in contributing to food production through increased pollination of food and cash crops and production of bee products for the market.
Mr Chitalu said beekeeping could also promote sustainable environmental management practices such as the planting of trees and providing alternative secondary livelihood sources to smallholders in the country.
“We appreciate government’s identification of honey as one of the products that will drive this programme forward under the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC),” he said.
Mr Chitalu said it was incumbent on the private sector players to support this intervention that could help wean the country off the copper dependency.
He said honey was a multi-billion dollar industry which could help turn around the slumping economy due to various domestic and global factors.
Mr Chitalu said honey was an industry that needed to seriously be developed as it was sustainable, comparatively cheaper and less labour intensive.
And SNV Zambia representative Malani Simukoko said the organization was committed to supporting the honey sector in the country.
Mr Simukoko said as the enhanced integrated framework (EIF) honey sector project came to an end, the organization was going to continue to support the sector in several ways.