The government has started an effort to establish and upgrade internationally accredited quality testing laboratories for honey with the main aim of boosting revenue from export of the product.

For the project, the Agricultural Transformation Agency (ATA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Trade & Industry. Khalid Bomba, CEO of ATA, and Eshete Asfaw, state minister for Trade & Industry signed the agreement on June 20, 2019.

The agreement seeks to establish a partnership framework where financial and technical support will be provided to two selected private and public enterprises to develop quality testing laboratories. Laboratories of the Ethiopian Conformity Assessment Enterprise and Bless Agri-Food Laboratory Service Plc are the beneficiaries of the project.

The project, which will be implemented through ATA’s Ethiopian Agribusiness Accelerated Platform, will see the allocation of 404,000 dollars for the purchase and maintenance of lab equipment for the two labs, which are expected to be operational next year.

The support also extends training and capacity building for employees, as well as commercialisation support  and brand and reputation building with the aim of making the labs regional testing centres for East Africa.

The two labs were selected after qualifying under several criteria with the screening process taking over eight months, according to Hanna Felleke, senior manager of Ethiopian Agribusiness Accelerated Platform at ATA.

"We evaluated their existing capacity, financial status and reputation," said Hanna.

Honey exporters have to acquire approval for every batch they export by international accreditors before their products are accepted in the international market. There are around nine internationally accepted standards for honey including adulteration, antibiotic residue, pesticide residue and sugar profile.

Currently, local honey exporters are sending samples to accredited companies in Germany and other foreign countries for quality testing and assurance in order to obtain approval to export their products.

During this process, exporters face challenges related to shortages of foreign currency, logistics problems, delays and inconvenience while sending samples overseas, according to Hanna, adding that the labs will avoid these hassles.

Currently, exporters, which are seven in number, are paying up to 5,000 Br to get approval for a single parameter, and the process could take half a month.

"The labs will greatly minimise cost and time in sending samples to foreign countries," said Wubshet Adugna, president of Ethiopia Honey Producers & Exporters Association, which has 56 members.