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Ethiopian Reporter - English Version

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Home arrow Sections Blog arrow Ethiopian honey accredited for EU market
Ethiopian honey accredited for EU market Print E-mail
Saturday, 21 June 2008
By Yelibenwork Ayele

Ethiopian honey was awarded the EU Third Country Listing of Animal-Based Products' accreditation as of February, Eyesuswork Zafu, president of Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Association said at a symposium held on Thursday for the dissemination of knowledge on the process and significance of acquiring the EU market accreditation.
Though the quantity of Ethiopian honey product ranks first in Africa and tenth in the world, the country has been unable to sell it on the world markets. One of the obstacles was getting the quality accreditation, which has just been solved, said Hailegiorgis Demissie, director of Ethiopian Honey Bee Producers and Exporters Association.

The exporters association was able to collect only 300 tons of honey from farmers this year while it is believed that the country has the potential to produce about 40,000 tons annually. The major constraints are the traditional methods Ethiopian farmers use for producing honey which are far less efficient than the modern. And what little honey is collected from the traditional hives is sold mainly for brewing mead, the local honey wine.

There is a very wide gap between the quantity of honey the European market demands and that produced here. Hailegiorgis said that farmers need to be taught the modern honey production techniques and be organized in cooperatives.

The Chamber and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development started the process to enable Ethiopia to get the EU market accreditation for honey and they were supported by the Embassy of Netherlands and SNV, a Dutch development organization.

The accreditation for honey was very hard to get, said Eyesuswork, but it is easy to lose if the quality of honey is found to have fallen below the standard which the EU market requires. The EU checks quality annually. And Ethiopian honey exporters face fierce competition from other African honey producers.
 
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