New Business Idea BEE KEEPING (APICULTURE) Production and Marketing with Costs in USD

 BEE KEEPING (APICULTURE)

Introduction
This business idea is for keeping bees for production of honey and bee wax. The Revenue potential is estimated at US$ 10,400 per year with the project cost of US$ 7,345 and a profit margin of 73%. The expected payback period is 7 month.

Process Description
Bee hives are opened after the bees have been smoked out using a
smoke pump, honeycombs are pressed by hand. Honey is separated
from the wax using pressing machines to produce better quality
honey. Honey from a honeycomb is extracted, warmed, strained and
bottled.

Capital Investment Requirements in US Dollars
Item	Unit	Qty	@	Total
Centrifuge Machine	No.	1	3,396	3,396
Wooden beehives	No.	50	16.71	836
Smoker pumps	No.	1	25.8	26
Buckets	No.	5	3	15
Hive tools	No.	4	1.5	6
Protective wears	No.	4	15	60
Filtering sieves	No.	4	1.5	6
Land	Acre	3	1000	3,000
TC of Machinery	7,345

Production and Operating Costs in US$

Direct Materials, Supplies and Costs
Cost Item	Units	@	Qty/ day	Prod. cost	Prod. Cost/ month	Prod.Cost/ year
Bee wax	Kgs	0.6	10	6	156	1,872
Sub total	156	1,872

General costs (Overheads)

Utilities (power)	15	180
(Utilities (water)	15	180
Salaries	50	600
Sub-total	80	960
Total Operating costs	236	2,832

Production assumed 4 quarters per year Direct costs include: materials, supplies and other costs that directly go into the production of the product.

Project product cost and Price structure in US$

Item	Period	out put	UPx	Total cost	Total Revenue
Honey	Per quarter	200	7	4.515	1,400
Per Year	800	7	4.515	5,600
Bee wax	Per quarter	150	8	6.02	1,200
Per year	600	4,800
Total	10,400

Profitability analysis in US$

Profitability item	Per Quarter	Rev per year
Revenue
Honey	1,400	5,600
Bee wax	1200	4800
Subtotal	2,600	10,400
Less Prod & Operating Costs	903	2,832
Profit	1,697	7,568

Market Demand
There is high demand for honey for home consumption,
pharmaceutical use in making drugs and in most instances it has
replaced the sugar intake among people with health complications.
Some beekeepers salvage the combs to extract wax for making
candles or at times it is mixed with maize flour to make ice-cream
cones. In addition, wax is demanded by cobblers, makers of
household textiles and garments.


The risk involved in the Business:
The risk involved in this business is that there is never a “superhive”, which could potentially disrupt the bees if there is an
interruption. However, this can be mitigated by making
diverse beehives.