Honey has always had a special place in Ethiopian culture for thousands of years. It has been used in a variety of ways, from a form of food to the making of wine and as a medicinal aid. Ethiopia is Africa’s largest producer of honey. When the Queen of Sheba went on her historic journey north to visit King Solomon, she may have brought honey as part of the many gifts she took with her.
Honey, which at the time was considered liquid gold, has always been a sought-after commodity in the Horn of Africa. Little has changed today, and Ethiopia remains one of the world’s largest honey producers and by far Africa’s biggest. It also produces some of the world’s most refined honeys, such as the white honey of Tigray, but little is known about it.
Amazing variety
Ethiopia is renowned for its amazingly diverse fauna and flora, which enable local farmers to produce a unique honey. For instance, in the Wenchi crater located about 120 kilometres east of Addis Ababa, the smooth and slightly smoky honey is made only from the Erica arborea, a variety of the Erica flower found in the crater. Further north in Tigray, the most northern region of Ethiopia, the very distinctive white honey is made from a local blossom of the sage plant family, known as labiate, which gives it its unusual colour. The white honey of Tigray is the most praised in the country and is considered a delicacy.
Honey is widely consumed in Ethiopia. It is used in cooking but also to produce Tej, the national drink made from fermented honey and commonly known as honey wine. No family celebration or gathering can take place in Ethiopia without Tej. Honey is also considered as medicine to cure some ailments. Because it is used in large quantities, Ethiopians traditionally buy it by weight at the marketplace, where until very recently it was still sold in huge leather sacks. They have now been replaced by synthetic bags, as leather has increased in value and is sold to tanneries.
Introduction of modern methods
Some of the cooperatives have started using modern beehives, which produce three times as much honey as traditional ones (35 kilos per beehive per season compared to 12 kilos). In a modern beehive, the honey is extracted from the honeycomb using a mechanical centrifuge, whereas in the traditional way, it is squeezed out manually. “Thanks to that system, we’ve already managed to increase our production to 2,000 kilos per season, it is very encouraging, “ said Miressa Hailemeskel Igo, a member of the Wenchi beekeepers association. However, not all cooperatives have adopted modern beehives because of their higher cost.
Three years after their first encounter, the honey has reached the market as a high-quality well-packaged product. CONAPI, Slow Food and other Italian NGOs have helped farmers not only to improve the production process, but also to package and label the product in an attractive way.
Ethiopia is also one of the largest exporters of beeswax, so it is a valuable commodity in the country. Producing additional beeswax enables farmers to have a by-product to sell when their honey production runs out. Their biggest challenge now is to increase production for export. Until now, beekeepers were selling whatever production they had to intermediaries who sold it in bulk on the market, mixing it sometimes with lower quality produce. With the help of Slow Food and its partners, they are now able to package and sell a high-quality honey directly to consumers.
Source: African Business Magazine
