ADVERTISEMENT

Ghana Beekeepers Association cries for help to meet overwhelming demand

The surge in global demand for honey is by virtue of the fact that majority of the world’s population is shifting from the use of saturated sugar to honey as a sweetener.

Usually, the excuse being given by the youth, most of whom are unemployed, is that, there are no markets to sell their agriculture produce after a lot of efforts, time, and financial resources have been invested in it.

The executive director of the Ghana Beekeepers Association, Oscar Nartey Adjabeng, is of the view that such a claim is not entirely true.

ADVERTISEMENT

According to him, beekeepers in Ghana are unable to meet the local demand, let alone the external ones.

He said in an interview with Pulse.com.gh that the demand coming from the local beverage company, Kasapreko alone is overpowering.

Honey is a sugary food substance produced and stored by certain bees.

It is produced from the sugary secretions of plants or insects, such as floral nectar or aphid honeydew, through regurgitation, enzymatic activity, and water evaporation.

The variety of honey produced by honey bees (the genus Apis) is the most well-known, due to its worldwide commercial production and human consumption.

ADVERTISEMENT

This trend is against the backdrop of several types of research pointing to the fact that consumption of sugar has some health implications such as diabetes on consumers.

Though just as any other substance, honey also has some side effects; they are minimal compared to the benefits.

Also, the proliferation of food and beverage companies and the use of honey for their commercial productions has been the catalyst for the increase in demand while supply is low.

Oscar Nartey Adjabeng expressed apprehension that, activities of some few miscreants in the industry pose danger to the sustenance of beekeeping as an industry and lives of the consuming public.

ADVERTISEMENT

It is common knowledge that there are adulterated kinds of honey on the Ghanaian market and unsuspecting patrons are hardly able to distinguish between a genuine honey and a polluted one.

Inasmuch as the Beekeepers Association admits that the markets are inundated with unwholesome honey, its executive Secretary said it is completely impossible to fish out the miscreants behind the canker unless the public helps by either reporting the perpetrators to the appropriate authorities or entirely avoiding patronage of their goods.

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!

Unblock notifications in browser settings.
ADVERTISEMENT

Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:

Email: eyewitness@pulse.com.gh

ADVERTISEMENT