source: http://www.brain.org.za/SUPPORT/topics/beekeeping.html  

Beekeeping in South Africa
Associations and organisations
Suppliers of Beekeeping equipment
Web sites
Publications



Beekeeping in South AfricaBeekeeping is the care and management of colonies of honeybees. They are kept for their honey and other products or their services as pollinators of fruit and vegetable blossoms. The practice is widespread throughout the world: honeybees are kept on farms and rangelands, and in forests and deserts. "South Africans do not produce nearly enough honey for the domestic market, and prices are good, allowing fairly substantial profit margins. Profitability is virtually guaranteed as long as you faithfully follow certain methods and make the most of opportunities." Ref.: Finance Week, 31 May 2002, p48.

Beekeeping:
This website lists associations in South Africa and neighbouring countries and includes articles and links. Website: www.beekeeping.co.za

Mellefica Byeboerdery
Tel: 05292, ask for 2703; or phone

Honeybadger Byeboerdery
Pretoria. Website: www.honeybadger.co.za  

Brabys:
www.brabys.co.za

Selected South African links

Article: "To Bee or not to Bee". Reproduced with the kind permission of the author, Johann van Zyl, Finance Week and Finansies & Tegniek. 31 May 2002. Article: "Bees in Kwazulu Natal". The Forest Honey Project. Farmers Weekly 10 June 2003

Career in beekeeping
Article in the Cape Argus about a Cape Town couple who have run a lucrative beekeeping business for the past 20 years and who provide training for people interested in starting their own venture working with bees.

Rupert's Honey
The main aim of this site is to educate you about bees, innovative beekeeping and the production of honey. They are the developers of the Jackson Horizontal Hive and with this hive and knowledge, they have developed a particular interest in Rural Apicultural Development and the simplification of all things apicultural.

Honeybadger:
Advice on beekeeping, honey farming, bee hives, beeswax, honeybees.

Proudly South African:
Honey of a project.

Beekeeping:
This website lists associations in South Africa and neighbouring countries and includes articles and links. Selected international links

Value-added products from beekeeping
FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin No. 124. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome 1996. This volume is intended to provide information on the utilization of all primary beekeeping products and in this way improve the possibilities for diversification in beekeeping activities. The new perspective for additional income generating activities for beekeepers and non-beekeepers alike may, under the right circumstances, also increase beekeeping viability in an otherwise often marginal business environment. ITDG's technical brief on honey processing
Downloadable as a PDF document.

Publications

Beekeeping in SA,
3rd edition. Provides information and instruction, caters for hobbyists, beginners and professionals. Agricultural Research Council. Tel: ; e-mail: riet Website: www.arc.agric.za Honey processing.
A technical brief produced by the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), UK. Website: www.itdg.org

Honey.
D Botha. ISSN: 0014-8482. Looks at the practice of apiculture in South Africa and the cultivation of colonies of honeybees for honey and beeswax production.

Value-added products from beekeeping.
R Krell. FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin No. 124, Rome 1996. ISBN: . Contains information on the manufacturing, processing and marketing of value-added bee products. It is directed at beekeepers as well as non-beekeepers, small entrepreneurs, extension officers and those involved in small business development.

South African Bee Journal.
P O Box 14786, Hatfield, Pretoria 0028. e-mail: anton This publication can also be viewed on the website: www.honeybadger.co.za

To bee or not to bee.
Finance Week, 31 may 2002. p48. Discussion on honey production in South Africa and its profitability.

Regulations relating to the grading, packing and marketing of honey and mixtures of bee products intended for sale in the Republic of South Africa.
South African Bee Journal, Vol.73, issue 1, March 2001.

Restraint of trade is a double-edged sword,
by D Rodkin. In: Finance Week, 11 December 1998. There's money in honey,
by C Nel. In: Farmers' Weekly, Issue 88028, 10 July 1998.

Hive management and honey production: practical beekeeping.
R Culbert. South African Bee Journal, Vol. 72, Issue 3, September 2000.

So you want to keep bees?
Farmers Weekly, 24 May 2002.

Cape clones are threatening R20 bn honey industry.
Business Day, 25 July 2002, p2.