RUKUNGIRI – Apiary farmers in Rukungiri district have decried low harvests, attributing it to change in this year’s weather conditions.
There were lots of rains in the harvesting season which could be the reason as to why the trend fell below their expectation.
The revelations were made on Friday, September 13, in a meeting of apiary farmers under their umbrella body- Rukungiri Honey Bee Keepers Association held at Rukungiri farmer’s resource center in Rukungiri Municipality.
Jackson Mutekanga an apiary farmer from Buyanja Sub-county noted that he was able to extract 10 jerry cans of honey last season, but to his surprise, this season saw him extract only 5 jerry cans.
Mr. Mutekanga noted that even though he increased the number of beehives to boost his production, it never yielded anything but rather counting losses.
“I almost added 20 new beehives hoping for a double harvest compared to the previous season but instead, the harvests went much lower than even when I had less hives” Mr. Mutekanga narrates the trend of his harvest.
Generous Kyokunda another affected apiary farmer from Bwambara Sub County noted that although she worked an extra mile to attain maximum honey from her hives, all efforts fell on rocky ground as she never harvested even half of what her prior target was.
“I did all it took to increase my earnings and honey productivity from my beehives but I got surprised when I actually realized that
Rukungiri District Entomologist, Lillian Kukunda said the heavy rains even in the dry season left no gap for farmers to harvest in time.
M/S Kukunda, however, thanked the farmers for their efforts to ensure maintaining the quality of their honey.
M/s Kukunda accepted lower harvests but assured the farmers that theirs is an improvement in the quality of honey with required moisture content.
“Am convinced that even though our harvest wasn’t that good but we have managed to attain the high quality required honey that can compete on the world market” M/s Kukunda comforting the farmers
