prijava
SARAJEVO, August 7 (FENA) - The Sweden/USAID FARMA II project helped BKV Group Ltd. from Bileća, Eastern Herzegovina, purchase production equipment and brand their products. BKV is now ready to launch new high-quality honey under the Kozjak trademark.
The BKV Group Ltd. was established in Bileća, in 2011. At first it functioned as an agricultural pharmacy that traded in beekeeping and other agricultural equipment, raw materials, and produced bee feed.
According to Rade Kozjak, who heads the company, working with beekeepers from Bileća, Trebinje, Stolac, Čapljina, and other nearby towns made them want to become a honey producer too.
“Instead of constantly seeing imported honey on the supermarket shelves, we wanted to offer a domestic, local Herzegovinian honey to the BiH market, and also to start exporting it,” says Rade.
But, he added, that they did not want it to be just any kind of honey.
"We wanted to offer the top quality product, controlled in adequate laboratories, which would initially be a purely Herzegovinian, and once our business developed, we would be looking to also include honey from other parts of the country," he elaborates.
Just as the BKV Group Ltd. defined their new and additional business activity, in 2017 the Sweden/USAID FARMA II project issued a call for project proposals that would contribute to the competitiveness of the BiH’s beekeeping sector.
He adds that they had the 3,500 square meter facilities which they could transform into the honey processing factory. So they invested in the renovation of their facilities, and the FARMA II project provided funding for the honey and honeydew packaging machines.
Part of the support provided to BVK also included training for ten young beekeepers, who would become their future contractual farmers, while the Kozjak honey’s social media manager recently attended the Sweden/USAID FARMA II provided webinars on online sales and promotion.
"We hope this all goes well, and when it does, we will be looking to work with as many beekeepers as possible here in Herzegovina and the entire BiH. Until then, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope that very soon everyone in BiH will have a chance to try Kozjak honey and be impressed,” highlights Rade, Sweden/USAID FARMA II announced.
(FENA) A. B.
