Multinational honey trader, Parodi Apicultura, opened an office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marking the company’s first location in Africa. Parodi Apicultura is the third largest honey trader in the world, sourcing more than 25,000 metric tons of honey from more than two dozen countries each year.
Santiago Herrero, General Manager of Matrunita Ethiopia inaugurates the office in Addis Ababa
In Ethiopia, the company’s European filial Matrunita is partnering with Bahir Dar-based Zenbaba Farmers’ Cooperative Union to produce, process and market Ethiopian honey to a wider international market. Together, Parodi and Zenbaba have shared the costs of establishing a modern processing plant, which will increase Zenbaba’s capacity to process and export honey of its 4,000-plus members.
“Ethiopia represents the future of beekeeping and is the largest honey producer in Africa. Together with Zenbaba, Matrunita will bring the sweet honeys of Ethiopia to the rest of the world,” said Santiago Herrero, General Manager of Matrunita Ethiopia.
The third partner, USAID-funded Feed the Future program Agribusiness Market Development has worked closely with Zenbaba Union over the last three years to increase the union’s ability to effectively produce honey using modern beehives and best practices. The USAID progam also assisted Zenbaba in developing a business plan, training staff and member co-ops, providing technical assistance on food processing and safety, and achieving organic, fair trade and quality assurance certifications.
Zenbaba Union expcects to produce more than 500 MT of honey each year for Matrunita Ethiopia
More than 90 percent of Ethiopia’s honey is still produced using traditional hives. Many farmers lack modern technologies, operate on a small scale, and are unaware of the quality of their product and potential markets outside of their immediate communities. As a result, most of the honey is traded informally or used to produce tej, a popular Ethiopian honey wine. Matrunita Ethiopia expects to begin exporting the honey produced by Zenbaba later this year.