Knowledge gaps affecting beeswax trade

It is one of the most versatile products for secondary usage. Beeswax is harvested from the comb that bees use to construct their hives and just like it is the case for honey, Uganda is known to offer pure and organic bees wax.

Processed wax itself is used in a multitude of products as an additive and has a wide market. From hair creams to shoe polish. Secondary products such as beeswax candles are also much craved by the customers and those that come to learn about its benefits.

Phionah Birungi, programmes manager of the Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation (Tunado), notes, “This is one untapped market, maybe because of lack of knowledge mainly on the side of the farmers. Except a few processors who have come up with innovations to make candles and cosmetics the industry is still totally green. This knowledge gaps must be addressed”

She adds, “The market exceeds supply. It is dominated by foreign companies; the destinations are Holland, Singapore and Japan.”
Dr Robert Kajobe, a bee expert and director of research at Rwebitaba Zonal Agricultural Research and Development Institute, explains that beeswax is produced in the beehive of honey bees of the genus Apis.

Worker bees (the females) have eight wax-producing mirror glands.
The wax of honeycomb is nearly white, but becomes more yellow or brown by incorporation of pollen oils and propolis.

“Honey bees use beeswax to build honeycomb cells in which their young are raised and honey and pollen are stored. For the wax-making bees to secrete wax, the ambient temperature in the hive has to be about 33 to 36 °C. To produce their wax, bees must consume about eight times as much honey by mass. It is estimated that bees fly 150,000 miles, roughly six times around the earth, to yield a kilogramme of beeswax” he explains.

Uses of beeswax
According to ApiTrade Africa, Beeswax is used commercially to make cosmetics and pharmaceuticals, including bone wax these (cosmetics and pharmaceuticals) account for 60 per cent of total consumption, in polishing materials particularly shoe and furniture polish and as a component of modelling waxes.

“It is commonly used during the assembly of pool tables to fill the screw holes and the seams between the slates. It is a good adhesive when blended with pine rosin to attach reed plates to the structure inside a squeezebox,” says Robert Okodia, director of Wimrob bees one of the export companies.

Some companies book even before harvesting but most of the wax is lost due to poor post-harvest handling and the general lack of knowledge about the product.

To note

Honeybees are the only creatures that make their own home construction materials. When they need to create a place to raise their young or to store food, worker female bees make honeycomb.

Formation
Beeswax is a tough wax formed from a mixture of several compounds including: hydrocarbons, monoesters, diesters, triesters, hydroxy monoesters, hydroxy polyesters, acid esters, acid polyesters, free acids, free alcohols, and other unidentified substances.

History of beeswax
When beekeepers used to extract honey, they would use cheesecloth to press the honey out of the beeswax honeycomb. Left with all this extra wax, they would then use their uneventful winter months to create candles out of this versatile material.

Cleaner
Burning beeswax produces negative ions that circulate in the room and attract pollutants, in much the same way that a magnet attracts iron fillings. Dust, odours, moulds, bacteria, viruses, and other toxins are captured and neutralised. Beeswax actually cleans your air. However, you still have to vacuum your house.