Sweet rewards - Young farmer does good 'bees-ness'

Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer

For many, it is a venture they would never embark on. But for Phillip Wolfe, amid the many stings, extracting the honey from the bees can bring sweet rewards.

So in 2008, when his passion for apiculture peaked, he sought technical advice from the Linstead branch of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority.

"It's a love I have from I did the course in college, and I just think I should use the knowledge and see how I can make some money from it," he told The Gleaner.

The 28-year-old, 2003 graduate of the College of Agriculture, Science and Education in Portland, said that like most entrepreneurial endeavours, funds can initially be quite challenging.

"Just to start a single colony, it may run you in the region of $30,000 overall. This includes the bees with hives, the treatment for the bees and the equipment such as hive tool, smoker and gloves, etc," the young farmer outlined.

However, getting the business off the ground was never a challenge for Phillip, as he had been saving to invest in the farm located at New Works, on the outskirts of Linstead, St Catherine.

"I started with a single colony (box with bees) and because of the area that I live, where citrus is the predominant crop, I increase my population around the time when the oranges come into season. That's between January and March, so I get as much honey as I possibly can. At one stage I had up to 15 colonies, now I've downsized to six," explained the Trade Winds Citrus Limited assistant farm manager.

Profitable trade

The multifaceted young Jamaican, who also holds a bachelor's in education from the University of the West Indies, points out that apiculture can be a profitable trade in Jamaica.

"It can be profitable if you know what you are doing, how to target the market and how to structure your hives; you can make money from it," he said.

At the same time, he cautions that good management practice and patience are critical elements of the industry. "You will not break even until about year two, then in year three you are guaranteed a profit, so you have to have patience because it's not a get-rich-quick scheme," Phillip said.

Besides, Phillip added, good customer-service relations and effective marketing strategies will always yield satisfying results.

"What I find is that most people prefer to come to the farmer like me, who produces my own honey, because they want the real thing," he noted.

"They buy honey to send to foreign. You have people who come to me and want all five quarts of honey to send to foreign. Then you have some people don't use sugar anymore, instead, they use honey as a sweetening agent; some people use it with lime for cold. Honey has a variety of use, so you can't lose."

Market demand

Driven by the belief that a critical component of a successful farming is satisfying the demand of the consumers, Phillip has not limited his skills and training to apiculture, but has also launched into agriculture.

"What I've done is watch the market in terms of what comes on, when. I know that when it is the drought period, you don't have a lot of sweet and hot peppers nor tomatoes, on the market, so I plant those crops because I know there would be a high demand for them," he said proudly.

"This year it has turned out well for the peppers, especially the sweet peppers; the demand was more than I could supply."

He explains that the initial costs to cultivate peppers are quite minimal and the returns are rewarding.

"They have given me good returns. I couldn't complain, the returns have helped me to offset a lot of costs which my salary would not have covered adequately."

In the meantime, his backyard garden is colourfully decked with okra, plantain, hot pepper and some hills of yam which he planted recently.

And, he continues to explore the lucrative markets, he will be embarking on the cultivation of sorrel for the first time this year.

The father of a four-month-old baby girl has also lent his training as a trained secondary educator for a year at his alma mater McGrath High School.

But, for him, nothing can be as gratifying as nurturing the bees, and as he contemplates launching a bigger project, he believes that the Government needs to do more for the sector.

"There is so much land in Jamaica that I think the Government should make land available for lease to persons, or groups, that want to farm," he declared. "Young people have the skills and knowledge. Agriculture can always generate employment."