> **From:** Carlos Matsinhe <carlos@meldosofala.co.mz> > **Subject:** Help organizing our honey harvest data > > Hello, > > My name is Carlos, I manage Mel do Sofala, a honey cooperative here in Beira, Mozambique. We have 350 beekeepers across Sofala province organized into 12 collection points. > > Our problem is data. Every quarter, each collection point sends me a spreadsheet — kilos collected, which beekeeper, quality grade, what we paid. I have almost two years of these files on my laptop. Twenty spreadsheets, maybe more. Some are Excel, some are CSV that someone exported. > > Right now if a buyer in Maputo asks me "how much Grade A honey did you produce in the Gorongosa region last quarter?" I have to open three spreadsheets and add numbers by hand. If they ask "show me the traceability for this batch" I have to dig through files for an hour. > > We are growing. We went from 200 beekeepers to 350 in the last year. The domestic supermarket chains are interested but they want production certificates with traceability data. I cannot provide that from scattered files. > > What I need is all of this data in one place where I can search it, filter it, and answer questions quickly. I need to see totals by region and by grade. I need to track which beekeepers are producing more or less over time. > > I have attached a sample spreadsheet from one collection point — Gorongosa North, Q3 last year. The other collection points use a similar format, though not exactly the same. The data has: beekeeper name, date collected, weight, quality grade (A, B, or C based on moisture content and color), and price paid. > > I am not a technical person. I keep the books and manage logistics. I just need the numbers organized so I can run this cooperative properly and satisfy our buyers. > > Please let me know how you would approach this. > > Best regards, > Carlos Matsinhe > Mel do Sofala Cooperative > Beira, Sofala Province