David Onwuchekwa, Nnewi
Mere mention of bees brings honey to mind. Many do not know that there are other beneficial uses the bees could be put to.
Truth is that investment in honey bee farming has remained largely under-explored given the rising demand for honey for industrial, medical and home use across the globe.
One of the few farmers in the sector in the South East, Emeka Okafor whose honey bee business, Majestic Honey Farms is at Adazi Enu in Aniocha Local Government Area of Anambra State has graphically explained the various uses of honey, the medicinal value and economic importance.
Okafor who is popularly known as ‘Emeka Mmanu Anu’ (Emeka Honey) said he is in the business of domestication of African honey bees for the production of natural honey, bee wax, honey comb and what he called apetherapy services.
Having been in the business for more than a decade, Okafor, according to his explanations, has gained a whole lot of experience about the usefulness of honey in diverse ways.
One strange benefit of bees, the bee farmer said, is that an ailment like paralysis or stroke could easily be cured by bee stings.
“The process is using bee stings at that particular part of the body that is lifeless. You will allow a concentration of bee stings there. It is controlled. When you expose that part of the patient’s body like a period of two months, life returns to that part of the body, no matter how long the patient has suffered the stroke or its gravity. That is a natural cure that no orthodox medicine could counter. India, China and some other countries use this method and it works. Its efficacy is not in doubt. I gained the experience from an expert who was trained in Israel in honey bee farming from who I received my training,” Okafor posited.
He said that about 1,000 bees could be deployed to sting the patient for one month, taking an average of 20 bee stings a day; explaining that the therapy would continue for two months until the patient is healed. According to him, many lives had been saved through the therapy, even though it had not been well exploited in the world of curative medicine.
African bees, he explained, are of high medicinal value than bees from other continents because their domestication takes natural course devoid of artificial materials.
Giving insight into how bees are attracted to his farms, Okafor said: “The method is to get fruits like pineapple, mangoes, palm wine and other sweet-smelling objects to attract the bees to the colony. The moment they visit the colony and see other bees, they will return to the colony after feeding in the wild.”
As someone close to the bees, Okafor said he discovered another property of the bees and their attitudinal behaviour to safeguard their environment. He said that bees use their propolis to embalm their enemies like lizard, rat on the grounds of intrusion into the bees’ territory. The essence of the embalmment by the bees is to avoid the body of the dead animals from oozing foul odour to disturb them within their environment.
He also disclosed that bees are sensitive with high level of alertness within their environment; pointing out that they could be sensitive to smells and colours. In his observation, colours like red, black and blue make them aggressive when such colours are brought close to them, adding that bees also hate external noise.
In addition, Okafor said that bee propolis is an antibiotic that could be used to treat various kinds of diseases in humans including treatment of wounds, as well as infertility problems in women which he said is very effective.
He identified bee wax as a product for production of shoe polish after extracting the honey, material for wood preservation, used to produce chewing gum and varieties of other products.
He explained that his incursion into bee-keeping started some years ago when after his Higher National Diploma programme, he decided that he would not roam the streets in search of job.
“I visited Mazube Farms in Minna, Niger State. There, I had contact with some Israelis who are experts in beekeeping industry. I was trained in beekeeping business and all the dos and don’ts in it. After a period of time there, I came back to my village to start my own business. I have invented an automated machine to suppress bee aggression; and I control so many bee colonies,” he stated.
Because of high demand for honey, Okafor is of the view that government must intervene to develop the industry. The demand for original honey, he said, surpasses the supply by 1,000 per cent.
He maintained that the country would earn millions of dollars annually from honey export thereby increasing its Gross National Product (GNP), if beekeeping is well developed.