There is no simple solution to climate change whose causes and effects are complex and inextricably linked to the environment we live in.

The frustration we often experience lies in how little we can do as individuals to correct the situation we have, as a collective, created.

So, when an opportunity comes along to bring the market for their honey, to the rural communities of a continent and at the same time to better the lives of many millions of people in an activity they are already undertaking, then it needs serious consideration.

That opportunity arose out of a webinar where the UK developed the system Bee.Watch was identified by The Africa Honey Consortium (AHC) as the foundation stone for a food traceability system for bee products, which they had already identified as the vehicle necessary to deliver exportable honey.

This is now known as ApiTrace.

The AHC had already established networks of honey producers across 11 countries of Sub Saharan Africa and currently, in Kenya and Burundi, the ApiTrace system is being implemented in English, French and Swahili.

Through creative use of QR codes to identify every individual hive, teams of smartphone empowered bee inspectors are the focal point for generating the real-time data needed, to develop and monitor a bourgeoning industry.

The "model" honey processing hub in the form of a converted shipping container will have the capacity to process 1 ½ ton of honey per day with integrated biometric systems that will check those producers are registered with the correct skill levels, do preliminary contaminant testing, and pay the actual producer instantly.

Each HPH will turn honey into a cash crop, putting upwards of £20,000 into the local economy every week helping to sustain and develop its existing low carbon footprint by reducing the necessity for people to move into cities to look for work.

These hubs will provide wholesalers with a predictable bulk supply of consistent quality honey where the use of RFID embedded bulk containers will prevent the contamination of honey in transit. The system logs on the RFID device, whose honey is in which barrel and if during laboratory testing contaminants are found to be present, then that honey can be traced right back to the apiary it was produced in.

ApiTrace true end-to-end system