Women in beekeeping- success and prosperity

Eleri Griffiths, Llanrwst, Conwy Valley, Wales, UK

Key words: Cameroon, grassroots organisations, Joan Wakelin Bursary, poverty alleviation, training

Eleri Griffiths writes: I attended a beekeeping course run by the Conwy Beekeepers Association in Wales, UK, which is how I came to meet Alan Morley and hear about his involvement with Bees for Development. I met with Alan to talk about his experiences in Cameroon, and came up with a proposal to visit the women beekeepers in the north-west region of the country. Following a period of research and project development, I wrote a proposal. As a result I was awarded the 2013 Joan Wakelin Bursary from the Royal Photographic Society which is run in conjunction with The Guardian News and this is how I was able to fund my travels. I am pleased to share this story through BfD Journal. My priority is to help these women who are in much need of funding and resources to run courses to train more women beekeepers in the region. If BfD is able to offer any support to this group I know that they will benefit enormously.

In the town of Bamenda, North West Cameroon, there is a co-operative of women beekeepers established as a club in 1997 by its founder member, Marianna Tanda Fumsi (pictured right). Marianna became interested in beekeeping when she volunteered in a honey shop to gain work experience and then enrolled on a beekeeping course run by Alan Morley, a Bees for Development volunteer.

Marianna Tanda Fumsi, founder of The Village Women Organisation for Sustainable Development Cameroon

PHOTOS © ELERI GRIFFITHS

With Alan’s guidance, Marianna gained practical knowledge and soon became an independent beekeeper, establishing colonies on her family’s smallholding in the rural community of Bambui, on the outskirts of Bamenda.

Marianna recognised the potential for training women to keep bees as a less laborious means of generating additional income. Through the sale of honey, women are able to provide food and purchase seeds, but most importantly they are able to pay for their children’s education.

Farming is labour intensive: honey offers an easier approach to income generation for the women of these rural communities

In Cameroon as with many African countries, children are forbidden to attended school unless they are wearing the correct uniform and proper shoes. School fees are typically FCFA 27,000 (US$56; €41) for each child. With 40% of the population in

Cameroon living below the poverty line, some families find it extremely hard to provide even the most basic needs. With this degree of deprivation children have little or no hope of accessing the education that ultimately makes all the difference to their future development – and that of their families and the wider community.

Women from the Bamendankwe Rural Development Group gather to watch a honey harvest. Protective clothing is too expensive for most women so they must watch and learn from a distance

Almost 17 years on, the beekeeping club has become a fully certified organisation with endorsement from the Cameroon government. The Village Women Organisation for Sustainable Development Cameroon (VWOSD-CAM) offers training to women beekeepers and also other initiatives among women and youth through education, training and community development. It offers support and advice for widows and educates on environmental issues and natural resource management.

Fidalia Tim, independent bee farmer and branch manager of Belo Rural Development Association. Fidalia was recently widowed and has six children to support on her own. She relies on beekeeping as a source of income for her family

Networking between grassroots women’s organisations means there are now several similar women’s co-operatives in the North West Region with co-operatives in the towns of Bamendankwe, Belo and Fundong. While each offers training for those who want to learn about beekeeping, they address also gender-based issues such as violence in the family home and education drop-out which is so common among young girls. In many of these smaller rural communities, boys still receive preferential treatment when it comes to paying school fees since girls can be forced into early marriage to use the “bride-price” to educate the male child. Outside the marital home, teenage pregnancies are common and this cycle of dropout, illiteracy and poverty is self-perpetuating.

Although Marianna’s role within the organisation has shifted from training to administration, she returns regularly to the family smallholding in Bambui to nurture a colony of bees and to attend beekeeping meetings with Bandndankwe women.

This area is peaceful and fertile with plant life. Combined with a good climate honey bees here can produce a crop of 15 litres of honey at each harvest, up to four times a year. The taste of honey varies with changing seasonal forage including pollen from the flowers of plants of coco-yam, Eucalyptus and palm. In addition to honey providing food for the family, beeswax is used for candles, furniture polish and beauty products.

In Cameroon the sale of honey does not conform to any food safety standards: new jars and screw top lids are too costly for most producers so honey is stored in old plastic and glass bottles, and sold either on the street or alongside other produce on market stalls. The women have come to recognise the importance of hygiene, correct labelling and storage.

For these beekeepers, as in other countries, there is a noticeable drop in the honey bee population. Once dark swarms migrating from overpopulated colonies to establish new colonies were a common sight, but now these sightings are rare. There is no doubt that even in this fertile country, changes in the environment are affecting their behaviour. According to the local women beekeepers, the seasons for harvesting have changed dramatically and are an indication that the world is changing too.

Fidalia carries a heavy honey crop back to her village. Hives are tucked away in the surrounding forest where forage for the bees is good. Fidalia has trained women from the nomadic Bororo tribes and Muslim communities of Cameroon and has travelled to neighbouring Nigeria to train beekeepers

The women of these co-operatives have long recognised the need to support each other and work together to enrich their lives and live in harmony with nature.

“When a woman learns by doing, she registers it in her sub-consciousness – the act and the love it takes to share.”

(From the Bamendankwe Rural Development Woman Organisation’s manifesto)

Josephine Musongong ready for an evening hive inspection: the bees are less defensive at this time of day. Some of Josephine’s hives have been damaged by thieves stealing honey and disrupting the colony