Beekeeping farm was established to provide raw material of honey which is the major product of Black-Ebony Honey with a Raw Material/ Farm Collection Centre in Ibusa, Delta State. The beekeeping farming so far, it has develop as a result of training undergone through a beekeeping and beekeeping activities with other beekeepers and this is a good economic activity in the area of agriculture that so
me one can raise huge amount of money when developed to a reasonable standard. It has great medicinal, economic, food and nutritional values. The natural biochemical formation of honey is carried out by the worker honey bees, using their tube-like tongues to collect nectar from flowers and carry it in their honey stomach, a pouch in the abdomen, to their hives. The nectar is transferred to the other bees that chew it for about half an hour, mixing it with glucose-oxidize enzymes from glands in their mouths. The enzymes breaks down the sugar in the nectar into simple sugar, fructose and glucose, with hydrogen peroxide as bye products in a process called inversion. They then place it in hexagonal cells made of bee wax (comb) and fan it with their wings to dehydrate it. As evaporation takes place, it gains viscosity and becomes honey. When the water content has been reduced to below 18% the cells are capped with a thin layer of wax. The honey has been analysed by standard organization of Nigeria and a certified public analysed in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Benin (UNIBEN). The Honey is composed primarily of carbohydrates and water and also includes small amount of a wide range of vitamins and minerals including b vitamins such as niacin, riboflavin and pantothanic acid along with minerals such as calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium and zinc. The honey is extracted through a fabricated machine called centrifugal and press machine that separates the honey from the comb. And it is used for finished goods. Analysis of the product is carried out to check the quality of the product through the use of refractometer and it is also taken to the laboratory for analysis before it is used. The organic garlic and organic ginger are sourced from various farmers in the Northern part of Nigeria such as Kano, Kaduna etc. the raw materials are sourced, selected base on quality and freshness through sorting, they are gathered and bagged for easy transportation and are washed, extraction of essential ingredients are achieved through extraction machine. And the essential ingredients are blended with the honey. Honey harvest from bee hive and separating the honey from the comb with a centrifugal spinning machine and transferred into a storage tank for filtration and filling into bottles and sachets. Black-Ebony Honey Garlic is a perfect blend of two natural organic food combinations that is mixed and filtered and fill into pet bottles and sachets. Black-Ebony Honey Ginger is perfect blends that undergo the same process with Honey garlic that is mentioned above. They are packed in pet bottles with tamper proof and well labeled and also packed in plastic sachets that is well sealed and labeled to protect the organic content of the product. To ensure a good quality product, the quality of the raw materials and equipment is very important by so doing the project will need the assistance of a qualified food technologist or microbiology annalist/scientist to carry out the necessary tests and microbiological analysis of raw materials such is sugar /soluble (brix) content, Ph, Ash, moisture etc. And adhere to strict Hazard Analysis critical control point (HACCP) in the production process and production environment. The achievement recorded through the help of these extracting machines and procedure has enabled us to package these brands of products. Black-Ebony Honey Garlic, Black-Ebony Honey Ginger as βTOP PREMIUM PURE NATURAL BRANDSβ which has created a unique and attractive attributes such as the content and packaging of the product that has aided higher demand and increase in market size in the Nigeria market. Through the R &D on beekeeping Farming and Honey production and allied activities, the company has receive some award prizes in Delta State World Food Day, which are; 2008 World Food Day Celebration award prize on 3rd position in Processed Food, 2009- 3rd position in Food Processing and Micro Livestock, 2010 -3rd position in Micro-Livestock and 201 -2nd position in Processed Food.
