Tanzania Fetches 69.1bn/- From Honey Exports In Four Years -

Tanzania stands 14th country for beekeeping in the world and 2nd in Africa with most of the country’s produced honey and beeswax often exported to Germany, France, Belgium and Netherlands, Oman, USA, Japan, Botswana, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Congo DRC, Somali and neighboring Kenya.

DODOMA. TANZANIA has generated a total of 69.1bn/- from the export of 6,016.67 tonnes of honey between 2021 and 2024, being an average of 1,504.17 tons per year.

During the same period, the country exported at least 2,410.81 tonnes of wax worth at 40bn/-, equivalent to an average of 602.71 tons per year.

The vital development in the country’s apiculture sector was unveiled by Mr Hussein Msuya, the Assistant Commissioner – Beekeeping at the Tanzania Forestry Services (TFS) during an exclusive interview to the publication.

According to him, during the said four years Tanzania produced a total of 128,588 tons of honey and 7,615 tons of wax.

He attributed the success to constructive efforts engineered by President Samia Suluhu to uplifting performance of the sector, the development which saw the ministry of natural resources and tourism working in sncy with TFS and other like-minded institutions and development partners to promote the sector.

Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees.

Mr Msuya further observed that in an effort to promote the beekeeping industry, Tanzania has continued to increase beekeeping production as part of a strategy to stimulate domestic economy and increase foreign exchange revenue through international trade.

He unveiled the major markets for bee products from Tanzania are Germany, Japan, the United States, the Netherlands, Ireland, Albania, UK, United Arab Emirates, Oman, China, Czech Republic, Poland, Kossovo, Kenya, Rwanda, Malawi and Comoros.

He informed that there has been a major increase in the annual production of honey in Tanzania, from 31,179 tons to 33,276 tons between 2021 and 2024.

“This means, there has been an increase of at least 2,097 tons of honey within a period of four years,” he insisted.

He said the increase was a result of improvement in beekeeping skills and technology as well as development and exercising of good policy.

Talking over wax, he said production has catapulted from 1,894 tons to 1, 913 from 2021 to 2024.

“The quality of Tanzanian honey in international markets has been confirmed through the honey competition held in South Africa by 2023. In the tournament, which included honey produced in Africa, honey from Tabora region took second place in quality,” he said.

Statistics from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism depicts that there is about 2 million beekeepers in the country, where honey production is at an average of 31,000 tons per year.