Pollination innovation

Bee-Tech Group is transforming South African agriculture with pollination technologies that boost crop yields and enhance sustainability. Founder Michiel Bruggeman spoke to Octavia Avesca Spandiel.

- Michiel Bruggeman

As the world grapples with an alarming decline in bee populations due to environmental changes and pesticide use, the agriculture sector faces a critical challenge: ensuring the adequate pollination of crops.

In the coastal city of Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape, the Bee-Tech Group is pioneering solutions to this issue, revolutionising traditional beekeeping practices and transforming them into advanced pollination science.

Led by Michiel Bruggeman, Bee-Tech is making significant strides in optimising pollination processes to benefit farmers while protecting and enhancing bee populations.

A CHANCE BEGINNING

Bruggeman's journey into beekeeping and the eventual creation of Bee-Tech was not something he had planned. Originally from Belgium, he came to South Africa more than 20 years ago.

After marrying a woman from Gqeberha, they moved to the UK where they lived for several years before returning to South Africa in 2012. Finding work here proved difficult, which led him to an unexpected opportunity that would change the course of his career.

"I thought: 'How hard can it be to find a job?' Turns out, it's quite hard. A beekeeper came to my in-laws' home to do a bee removal. I went along, saw how he did it, and asked if I could learn by working alongside his staff," says Bruggeman.

This curiosity led him to acquire his first beehive later that year, marking the start of his new life as a beekeeper.

However, he quickly realised that traditional beekeeping, particularly honey production, was not where his interest truly lay.

"For me, the opportunity in beekeeping doesn't lie in making and chasing honey, but rather in pollination," he explains.