The Honey Production Project

Honey
Production
Project

The Honey Production Project commenced in 2023 by identifying emerging agri-preneurs.

The criteria were set as follows:

Must operate in SIOC-CDT beneficiary areas.
Must be a South African national.
Woman or Youth owned business.
Must be operational in the agriculture sector.
Must have access to land, preferably 2ha.
Must be 51% black owned.
Must be a legal entity – registered or have a permit if informal; and
Must be able to avail themselves for a 10-day training programme.

Once selected, the first training session took place in July 2023 with Bokamoso Impact Investments and SIOC-CDT taking equal responsibility in ensuring the empowerment of participants in the Honey Production Programme. The success of the programme relies on the continuous monitoring and support of the participants involved.

The 10 days business readiness programme is therefore the start and introduces the emerging beekeepers to the fundamentals of business management, providing insight that will increase participants knowledge to develop their Agri-businesses into commercial Agri-businesses. They will have the chance to learn from experts and entrepreneurs from across Africa, Israel, Europe and America and gain real-world knowledge useful to the growth of their businesses. Participants will receive SETA accredited certificates at the end of the training programme. Post training, beneficiaries will receive all the necessary equipment to set-up and begin harvesting their own honey. Each business will receive 60 hives, bee-keeping tools as well as beekeeping suits and a seed pack to plant vegetation required by bees.

It is estimated that one hive can produce 15kg of honey in a season (3 months). To achieve this, the correct management of hives will be required and consistent maintenance of the crops from the seeds provided, enabling the bees to forage. The businesses will receive consistent support with bi-monthly visits from SIOC-CDT to monitor the progress of the business along with the support from SEDA, Cadet Programme. Bokamoso Impact Investments will conduct quarterly visits for purposes of monitoring and evaluation, ensuring that the management of beekeeping businesses is up to standard.

“SIOC-CDT will use our own platforms to engage with stakeholders outside of the beneficiary communities. This will ensure that the local businesses will be well marketed to increase their market share and not limit beekeeping businesses to a single market. With consistent support SMMEs are ensured to produce quality products which aims to develop a fruitful honey production industry in the Northern Cape, including the production of multiple goods from the honey byproducts”

VUSANI MALIE – CEO OF SIOC-CDT

For further enquiries please contact Nico on 076 783 9021 or Basetsana on 061 408 9946 during office hours.

About Us

SIOC-CDT's primary goal is to implement sustainable socio-economic initiatives through partnering with key stakeholders to ensure that beneficiary communities have sustainable income and are empowered to thrive beyond the lifespan of the mine.