Beekeeping as a business: action plan and organization steps

Want to devote time and energy to a worthy and profitable business? Try to consider beekeeping as a business. How do you like this idea?

But let's get it in order. Honey can be called one of the healthiest and tastiest products in the world. Therefore, the beekeeper is not only a profitable profession, but also a very respected one.

A bit of history with geography

Do you know that people’s extraction of bee honey has been known since the Stone Age? In one of the caves of Spain, archaeologists discovered a cave painting dating back to ancient times. It depicts a man who is climbing a tree to a wild hive for honey. The approximate age of the figure is about 8000 years.

Beekeeping, for obvious reasons, is developed mainly in the southern regions of our country and neighboring countries. For example, in Moldova, beekeeping and honey as a business are a popular way to generate income.

Capital investments in this case will require about 28,000 rubles. The payback period, as a rule, is no more than a season.

Benefits first

Every year, both professional entrepreneurs and amateur beginners try their hand in this area. This is due to a considerable number of advantages inherent in this type of activity. Which exactly?

1. To open such a business is possible with only a few hundred dollars.
2. Profitability of beekeeping as a business, according to experts, is estimated at 40%. This figure serves as a serious enough reason to get down to business.
3. If you do not pretend to be a large-scale enterprise, it’s realistic to conduct your small business alone. This automatically implies no staff costs. With the number of hives less than 10, the beekeeper is quite capable of doing it on his own - without hiring additional employees.
4. Monopolists as such are absent in the honey market. This is due to the fact that the vast majority of consumers prefer to buy honey directly from manufacturers - for example, from familiar beekeepers or in the market (but not in a supermarket).
5. An occupation such as beekeeping can be the main activity or a pleasant and useful hobby that provides a fairly serious extra income to the main salary.
6. Learning to pump honey is not at all difficult. After a short training, any beginner is able to cope with such an activity. To help him - a huge amount of specialized literature, not to mention the Internet pages devoted to this specific type of activity. A ready-made business plan for beekeeping on a small scale is easy to develop yourself.

Now about the shortcomings

The most serious of them is the fact that the price of honey has always been and remains quite high. Today, this useful product is not affordable for everyone. That is why with the formation of an extensive client base there will most likely be difficulties.

Another serious drawback is the high level of competition. Indeed, today a huge number of unemployed citizens are looking for applications to their forces in all areas, including agriculture (and, as an option, in beekeeping).

What are the nuances of this business?

For a novice entrepreneur who has decided to devote time and effort to this interesting and profitable occupation, one should not forget that:

1. The named business will not suit you if you are a resident of a large city, living in an apartment and not owning real estate in the countryside. Of course, legally no one will forbid you to become the owner of an apiary. But, most likely, you have to entrust it to someone else - a person who has the opportunity to constantly be in place, to look after the hives and engage in the swing of honey. Accordingly, your employee will require wages, which should be provided for by the beekeeping business plan. An apiary should ideally be at hand.
2. Sometimes in the media there are reports of deaths in different regions of bee colonies due to the use by farmers of herbicides used to spray fields. A dead bee family means for the beekeeper very significant expenses, from which not one of the businessmen in this field is safe.
3. Any business implies the honest name of the owner. It happens that a beekeeper, in pursuit of profit, instead of real honey tries to organize the sale of a product diluted with sugar syrup. The rumor about a low-quality product is spreading very quickly, and in this case you will instantly be left without customers.
4. A mandatory requirement for independent beekeeping is a love of nature, the absence of fear of bee stings, as well as allergies to them. Bees can dislike a certain person (there is an opinion that they are bad for unkind people). Therefore, think three times whether you are ready to tempt fate.
5. For good profit from the apiary, the assortment of your product should be diverse - it is more profitable to sell different varieties of honey (acacia, linden, buckwheat, flower, sunflower, etc.) This will require the apiary to be transported to different places in order to collect as much pollen as possible by the bees.

Other important points

1. Investments in the bee business will be required not only at the beginning stage, but also on a regular basis. After all, it will take the costs of warming the hives, feeding the bees, treating them from parasites, and purchasing the necessary containers. In addition, it is necessary to provide for the transportation of both hives and finished products.
2. The apiary requires regular supervision. It would be rash to think that it is enough to take the hive to a place suitable for collecting pollen and return, say, a month later for ready honey. The state of affairs in bee houses requires checking at least once every week.
3. Although in the presence of good conditions the life span of the queen bee is up to 5 years, but it can produce high-quality offspring within only two years. Then the uterus must be replaced. This should be considered when drawing up a financial apiary plan.
4. Do not try to collect all the honey during the final pumping for the season. In order for the bees to be able to feed in the winter, they will need to leave at least six to seven kilograms. Greed in this case may turn against you.
5. Despite the seeming simplicity of this peaceful activity, do not forget that it is still entrepreneurship. The plan (calculation) of the beekeeping business will require the preparation of calendar and financial schedules, market research, acquaintance with the closest competitors. That is, both theoretical and practical comprehensive preparation for this type of activity will be required.

Beekeeping as a business - where to start?

First of all, let's talk about a place under the apiary. His right choice is the basis for beekeeping as a business. What are the criteria for choosing the best place where your bees can live?

A true paradise for them can be called the territory where many honey plants grow in the form of acacia, linden, buckwheat and a variety of wildflowers. The territory of the apiary will necessarily require fencing in order to avoid the invasion of vandals or robbers. The site will require constant supervision.

Ideally, this occupation - beekeeping as a business - requires the purchase of a private house located in the immediate vicinity of a meadow or forest where acacias, willows, and linden trees grow. The site must be located away from industrial enterprises and highways.

If there is no place

If the territory of your personal plot is large enough, it is possible to arrange a large apiary of several dozen hives, which will provide you with quite good earnings. If you don’t have such opportunities, but this idea of ​​business - beekeeping - firmly occupies your consciousness, you can try to agree on adding your own beehives during the honey harvest to someone who has suitable conditions.

You can agree with the owner of the territory on different conditions - to pay rent of a place for bees with money or directly with honey. Many farmers who are interested in crop yields that bees can provide are ready to provide their own territory to beekeepers with their hives on a free basis.

About the importance of an advertising campaign

Of course, we are not talking about advertising if you have at your disposal only a few hives set in order to provide honey to your family, friends and close relatives. But if you started farming bees as a business, you can’t do without advertising. You will need it in order to ensure the possibility of selling sweet products at the most favorable prices.

Moreover, the wide opportunities provided by the media are used, as a rule, only in those cases when it is planned to establish a mass scale of the honey business. In the case of a small apiary, other advertising methods are usually involved:

1. Its outdoor options (in the form of ads or posters).
2. Using the capabilities of the Internet (for example, your own page on a social network).
3. Through active participation in thematic events - various exhibitions, sales, agricultural fairs, etc.

What is really going on

The best tool in this type of business was and remains the word of mouth known to everyone. What does this mean in practice? If your business is based on the principle of selling quality products at a reasonable price, then you can be calm - very soon you will have regular customers without any problems.

At first, you should not rely too much on the above advertising tools. Independent sale of the products on the market is required. If you can’t do this for any reason (due to lack of strength or free time), then the option of handing over honey for sale is possible. Unfortunately, in such a situation, your revenue will be a smaller amount - after all, the earnings of the sellers are the difference between the purchase price and the one at which honey will be sold at retail.

What is a calendar plan?

This business is seasonal. In the winter months, it is convenient to carry out the so-called preparatory period. Now we are not talking about the registration and collection of all necessary documents for entrepreneurial activity. We will deal directly with the technical side of the matter. 2-3 months (best in winter) will go to you to study theoretical materials, purchase hives, etc. Starting in April (in the case of suitable weather), hives can be exported to the places where the first pollen was collected. Thus, the start of beekeeping is possible in a relatively short time.

We repeat again - in the middle and end of winter (for example, in January-February) you are engaged in theoretical training. By the end of this period, purchase the necessary equipment. And in March, you start buying bee families.

In April, beehives are taken out to the place of honey gathering and at the same time the first advertisement of the future sweet harvest is launched. At the same time, you should start registering your case.

On the legal side of the issue

This is done when you do not intend to engage in amateur breeding of bees, but are set up for a serious official business with the prospect of further growth. Then beekeeping is legally formalized, for example, in the form of IP.

In this case, you will inevitably have to pay taxes. Of all the tax systems in this case, the single tax form is most convenient.

If you do not plan to install a large number of hives and are ready to limit yourself to selling your own products at home, you can avoid such a procedure as obtaining quality certificates. Without a doubt, you only need to obtain a veterinary passport. This is done in the district department of the veterinary service at the place of residence.

If you set yourself the goal of selling the obtained honey on the market under regular conditions (not to mention cooperation with supermarkets), then you will need the results of laboratory tests that can confirm the quality of the product. It will also require additional costs, which should be foreseen in advance.

Those entrepreneurs whose bee business exists on a large scale can afford to purchase their own laboratories. But if you are just starting a project, you should temporarily forget about this idea. After all, the cost of such equipment is more than $ 100,000.

How much money will it take?

So, what kind of finance does beekeeping require as a business? Breeding bees and selling honey is not a start-up that involves huge initial cash infusions. The beekeeping business project involves the acquisition of beehives, bee colonies, and additional equipment, including a special beekeeper suit. You will also need to buy containers designed for bottling honey, as well as invest some money in an advertising company. Do not forget about the estimated transportation costs.

But the amounts required for all of the above will not be unbearable even for a novice businessman. A beginner can start by acquiring only five hives (each of which will cost approximately 1,700 rubles, totaling a total of 8,500 rubles), stands for them (225 rubles in the amount of 5 pieces) - another 1,150 rubles, about 1,200 will cost one bee family (total for 5 pieces - about 6000 rubles). Add here 2500 rubles for a beekeeper’s costume with a mask, a set of frames - 100 pieces for 1200 rubles, about 5 kg of wax - 280 rubles per kilo - for only 1400 rubles, a honey extract for 5000 rubles. and other equipment (a chisel, a smoker, a knife, etc.). Let all this also cost 1100 - 1200 rubles. If we add another 1050 rubles for other expenses, then it is easy to calculate that you will meet the amount indicated at the beginning of the article - 28 000 rubles.

How profitable is beekeeping?

Anyone who is willing to decide on the organization of an apiary is interested in the most important issue. Namely: is beekeeping profitable enough as a business? The feedback from experienced beekeepers is unequivocal - this occupation as a sphere of entrepreneurship is a very, very profitable business.

Experts also evaluate the profitability of this type of business very highly. In the case of the right actions and a successful combination of circumstances (when not a single bee family of your hives dies) during the season, you can get 40 liters of honey and more from one hive.

Having the same 5 hives indicated above, you will accordingly collect about 200 liters. Net profit in the case of the full sale of the resulting product will be at least 30,450 rubles. Some of them, as already mentioned, will be spent on transportation costs, feeding bees and so on. But about 28,000 rubles will remain on hand.

Thus, all capital investments in the organization of the apiary will pay off during the first season. Next year, in the same financial situation, will bring you the same $ 500 in net profit. If you have more than five hives and you are ready to invest additional funds in the business, the degree of profitability of your beekeeping business will be even higher.