News

CAMEROON

We have been training throughout the whole country but especially in the North West, South West and Central Regions to encourage beekeepers who ceased working due to the continued national crisis.

We carried out three major trainings sessions to raise awareness within the community around Bamenda and enabled people to have a stable source of income. We appreciated the teaching materials we received from Bees for Development which have been of great help to us and our community.

Ngwainmbi Simon Chia, Executive Director, BERUDA, Bamenda

We were invited by Cameroon Gender and Environmental Watch to provide training on honey harvesting, bottling and reinstalling hives when broken

Photos © BERUDA

Moving hives to a new site

Setting up a hive after training

Trainees received certificates after completing the course

GHANA

Rural women empowerment through beekeeping

One hundred and seventy-seven rural women in the five poorest communities in the northern region of Ghana thank Bees for Development for giant support! We were advised to apply to FAO and were successful in obtaining funding to purchase beekeeping materials for our apiaries. The training provided for the women has helped them in significantly reducing poverty in their households and improving their livelihoods. The training included: making top-bar hives, harvesting honey using smokers, making veils, colony management, wax extraction and rendering and pollen and propolis harvesting.

Top-bar hives under Acacia trees for shelter

Before the training the women used fire to kill the bees before they could harvest the honey, often contaminating the honey with the process. Honey was overheated in the combs and water added to it, which meant the honey did not keep and was wasted. After training bees are conserved and the honey is pure and free from contamination. The bees are pollinating crops on the community farms and our Acacia trees where the top-bar hives are sited.

Honey is used for treating mental illnesses, wounds and chronic sicknesses and as a diet supplement. The women use proceeds from sales of honey and wax to pay school fees and purchase learning materials for their children’s education.

Development Concern Centre is appealing for funding to help the women from the remaining ten community rural women’s groups who have come forward asking for training. Thank you, FAO and Bees for Development for empowering our poorest rural women.

Training included making hives and equipment

Photos © Development Concern Centre

Amadu Hudu, Executive Director, Development Concern Centre, Tamale

If you are able to help, please contact Amadu Hudu via Bees for Development

INDIA

Collective beekeeping is an initiative to conserve honey bees as important pollinators, and to improve the livelihoods of forest dependent and indigenous communities through better processing techniques, value addition, eco-labelling and direct market linkages and to encourage augmentation of bee flora.

In February a meeting held at Parna Western Ghats Farmer Producer Company discussed apiary management, marketing, branding and packaging and quality standards. It was decided to purchase a honey extracting machine and obtain food certification FSSAI for the honey.

Materials from the resource box provided by Bees for Development were displayed and youngsters introduced to the bee collective initiatives, (as described in the article in BfD Journal 129)

Photos © Narasimha Hegde

Narasimha Hegde, Sirsi, Karnataka, India

RODRIGUES

I am writing from a seriously damaged Rodrigues. On the evening of 9 February Cyclone Galena struck the island with full force. We had been on alert for some days as this intense tropical cyclone tracked southeast between Mauritius and Rodrigues. We hoped that the full force of the cyclone would pass us by, but unfortunately not. Severe conditions began at 2000 hours Saturday evening, and the Class 4 warning was not lifted until 1200 hours Sunday, with wind speeds of over 160 km/h recorded.

The Island’s infrastructure has been badly affected, with roads blocked by fallen trees.

Communications were damaged and power lines brought down as pylons snapped. The farming and agriculture sectors have been badly affected and in some places crop plantations and animal farms wiped out.

Ricarsley (holding frame) is assisted by Head Beekeeper Eric (with smoker) working at Care-Co’s second apiary at Petit Gabriel, where six hives are sited on rented land

Here at Care-Co our buildings have all been constructed to withstand cyclones, however our apiary at Petit Gabriel in the hills was damaged. We have removed fallen trees and reset hives on stands, and fortunately the bees were not lost.

After a week Care-Co is returning to normal. Our workers, school staff and parents are comparing notes on what has been lost and how the cyclone has affected them. Cyclones are a regular occurrence here, and we have learned to live with them: the other months of the year are made up of beautiful tropical warm and sunny weather.

The honey harvest was poor this year, and the effects of the cyclone on the nectar sources do not bode well for any hope of improvement next season. However, our apiaries are in good shape as we have a programme of feeding the bees during crisis periods in nature.

Paul Draper (left) makes notes for the beekeeping log book. In the background are Eric and Ricarsley. This Apiary is in the hills and was badly damaged by the cyclone - no leaves on the trees and branches down everywhere. We have cleared it up and the bees are busy and are being fed

Paul Draper, Care-Co & the Trevor Huddleston Association for the Disabled (Rodrigues), Camp du Roi

ZIMBABWE

FAO has been implementing a four-year (EU funded) project to improve food security of vulnerable rural communities through participatory sustainable forest management and value addition to forest products. The Forest Forces Project established the correlation between forest management and a thriving honey production business which provides a livelihood source and a sustainable business for communities. A Project video* tells the story of Njovana, a beekeeper who understands that every tree that survives - can mean the income difference that sustains his family, and allows his children to go to school, while at the same time supporting his local beekeeping community.

His neighbour -Benjamin Chatamuka started with nine hives that expanded to 260 hives in less than three years. He attributes this rapid growth to the market linkages and training provided by the Project. The stories illustrated in the video are just examples of the hundreds of farmers in Zimbabwe who have been assisted by the Forest Forces Project to establish successful honey production enterprises, making their dreams become a reality.

* www.youtube.com/watch?time_ continue=9&v=z1R_MRoBRgQ

Source: NWFP Update January 2019 / Issue #15

SUPPORT FOR TRAINING

BfD Training Booklets and Training Cards are for use by beekeeper trainers in Africa.

Each booklet provides one day of training on one topic. The cards provide pictures and plans illustrating techniques discussed in the booklets. These are included in our Resource Boxes for training events and workshops.

Projects and associations in developing countries are welcome to apply for a Sponsored Resource Box by filling out an application form on our website, or request the form by email.

Projects in other areas can purchase Resource Boxes through our website store.

www.beesfordevelopment.org