I think you will find that top bar hives should not be compared with 
Langstroth ...  they are very very different and there is no way that 
Africa is going to use Langstroth.

The advantages of top bar hives are that they are very cheap to 
construct, need little skill to make, forgiving with inaccurate 
measurement and use any local materials.  You do not need the huge 
expense of a honey extractor.

Getting liquid honey from the bars is a pain.  You need a press of some 
sort but still easy to make from local materials.   But this may 
actually miss an opportunity.  A bar of honey from a top bar hive is 
capped comb honey.  There is no wire. So to cutting the comb into 
squares and put in boxes means that you have a quick and simple 
product.  Comb honey often commands a great premium price compared with 
liquid bottled honey. It implies quality to consumers since you cannot 
adulterate comb.  But that is not selling in the local market down the 
road, that is shipping the product to the capital city or the nearest 
large city.  Marketing is going to be just as important as increasing 
production.



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