Money from honey on Mount Elgon, Uganda

Mount Elgon straddles Uganda’s eastern border with Kenya. It is a remote and poor place, and life was made harder when hundreds of people where killed by severe landslides in 2010 and 2012. It is widely understood that the landslides were triggered by unusually heavy rain as a consequence of climate change, and years of deforestation of the mountain’s steep slopes exacerbated the situation. A local NGO, named Mbale Coalition Against Poverty (Mbale CAP) in response launched a tree-planting project, which received support from the Welsh Government. However, many concerns remained. Local people understand the importance of tree-planting, yet trees take time to mature, and farmers need immediate income to meet their daily needs.

Bees for Development first visited the area in 2013 to consider options for beekeeping development and began working with Mbale CAP to help farmers to integrate beekeeping into their tree and coffee plots. We immediately recognised the potential of the area: bees, flowering plants and materials to make low-cost beehives are readily available. We identified people with good beekeeping skills and trained them further to take on the role of Community-Based Beekeeper Trainers (CBBTs), and we provided possibilities for them to train other people in their communities. This approach has been hugely successful and has generated significant multiplier effects.

Elizabeth Nakuti is the daughter of Peter Gimaswa, one of the CBBTs. Elizabeth is learning all aspects of beekeeping from her father and is keen to help him. She appreciates the value of beekeeping because she and her brothers enjoy eating honey, but primarily because she understands that honey sales pay for her school books and education “I thank bees for my school fees!”, says Elizabeth.

In 2013 Bees for Development held a meeting at the premises of the local coffee cooperative. Patrick Wakuma was not invited to the meeting, but he happened to be passing and realised that visitors were talking about bees, so he stood to one side and listened. After the meeting he asked to participate in future training and was invited to do so. Since then he has never looked back. He now places his beehives throughout his coffee plot, one by one. He does not place them in a single location in one apiary because he knows that the bees will reach more coffee plants this way. Since he began beekeeping he has noticed that his coffee yields have increased from 15 bags a year to about 25 bags. Before taking surplus honey to town to sell, he makes sure his children eat honey at least once a week to stay healthy. He explains, “I have always known bees, but I did not know you could make business from bees!”

The Project has encouraged women to become involved in beekeeping and in Bududa Ms Robinah Nandudu, the local CBBT, has been eager to learn from more experienced beekeepers. The Uganda Wildlife Authority has given permission for beekeepers from Elgon Farmers Associations to establish four apiaries inside Mount Elgon National Park. This collaborative arrangement means that instead of being excluded with no gain, local people can benefit from the National Park. Local CBBT Sam Kusolo explains that bees within the Park are not disturbed by people, livestock or pesticides.

These beehives are made from Eucalyptus timber offcuts and sell for a little over US$7 each. The Project has generated an increased demand for beehives and therefore good economic benefit for hive makers. Craftsmen and women make also woven and clay hives. Interestingly a local historian, Julius Namisano, identified a type of clay cylinder hive made by youth in Burukuru. Called the Masaaba Eco-beehive Julius and Mbale CAP are now testing this hive more widely, it costs about US$6.

One of the most successful aspects of the Project has been the promotion of many different styles of beehives – depending on local skills, materials and available budget. Top-bar hives are popular however at about US$30, are too expensive for some people. There is some willingness from government departments to donate top-bar hives to farmers but as one District officer freely admits, “Donated equipment without adequate training achieves little. We have no beekeeping extension staff in the rural areas. The CBBTs are helping us in every way”.

Mbale CAP continues to promote tree-planting and has now set a new target of planting 10 Million Trees by 2019. Tree nursery managers have been trained in all aspects of raising tree seedlings. Species such as Calliandra calothyrsus, Croton macrostachyus, Cordia africana and Grevillea robusta provide excellent bee forage and are planted widely by farmers. There has been a significant increase in interest in tree-planting across the Mbale area, and Mbale CAP now find the demand for tree seedlings is greater than they are able to supply.

A key part of the Project approach has been to build a culture of learning and sharing amongst the CBBTs. Workshops were held every three months where all CBBTs could discuss their experiences and challenges and learn new skills. Many issues were discussed such as how to achieve good hive colonisation rates, honey prices, who was buying and selling beeswax, the optimum number of colonies to keep in one apiary, and the best types of bee forage. This approach to continuing learning is one of the factors which has made this Project so successful.

CBBTs were asked to monitor the progress of the farmers they were mentoring. This involved recording how the new beekeepers developed their beekeeping skills (after one year 65% of trainees could harvest honey without help), recording their honey sales (average 13 kg per new beekeeper per year) and income earned. CBBTs also noted how new beekeepers used the income they earned from honey selling. In this image we see Sunu Women’s Group demonstrating how they run their group savings scheme, putting in money from selling honey and borrowing money for household and business purposes.

Acknowledgements

We thank Hub Cymru Africa and Charles Hayward Foundation for funding this Project. We acknowledge the work of Mbale CAP Coordinator Mr Rogers Wasibi whose dedication has enabled significant improvement through beekeeping to the lives of farmers in the Mount Elgon area.