News

Bees for Development – Africa

ETHIOPIA

Trees, bees and people

Covid-19 has prevented some of Bees for Development Ethiopia’s planned training sessions, as travel in the Amhara region has been restricted. Added to this, internet connectivity through much of the country has been patchy at best, making even basic opportunities to meet and learn difficult.

While Covid-19 has restricted larger group training, it has been possible to run sessions for small numbers, and particularly in one-to-one coaching. Training is provided by our Ethiopian team of skilled local beekeepers who pass on their knowledge and skills as mentors and advisors. We thank them for their efforts in May.

The team is evaluating training carried out over the last 18 months, finding out how many people are continuing to benefit since the training, and assessing how many families have been supported.

Work to stabilise degraded land close to Lake Tana in the Amhara region continues. 32,000 trees were planted last year, on two 30ha sites. The community is totally engaged in the transformation and have helped protect the sites that are fenced off from grazing livestock. A further 13,500 tree seedlings have been added this spring. In May 530m of fencing was placed in an area that has been badly degraded. The community provide the labour, giving a real sense of ownership. In June, a further 13,500 tree seedlings were added.

The transformation in the sites is clear and encouraging, providing fruit, lush grasses for harvesting, and a rich habitat for bees to forage. In Ysala, the first site to be fenced in 2018/19, grass is growing enabling 40 people to practise cut and carry for their livestock, and forage trees are growing.

Bees for Development’s Trees Bees and People Project is supported by Rowse Honey.

Richard Harrington

Grasses are cut and carried to feed livestock safely away from protected areas

Fencing is built to protect degraded areas

GHANA

Buzz clubs and more

Bees for Development Ghana continues to bring the benefits of beekeeping to men, women, and children in all the communities where we work. What about children? Yes! Beekeeping clubs have been set up in six schools in Ghana and training has been provided to teachers and students. The honey harvest always provides great excitement for the schools. In addition to raising money the Buzz Clubs provide useful educational opportunities. In one school honey yields were lower than expected. This prompted Bees for Development Ghana to work with Buzz Club members to develop a bee forage seasonal calendar with students observing and recording plants in their local area and documenting which plants are used by honey bees.

In the East of Ghana, near Digya National Park, we are teaching beekeeping to honey hunters to help them earn more from bees. While this Project was not a children’s project, it proved hard to keep them away. Children in the village were eager to copy their parents and learn how to make hives. The first year of beekeeping involves making hives, establishing an apiary, attracting bees to the hives, and learning the basics. Honey harvests are possible within a few months of acquiring bees, but this is not guaranteed, and a little patience is required before the full benefits are realised. Bees for Development Ghana provides on-going and reliable advice to all the new beekeepers they support, full in the knowledge that the first years of beekeeping are the most exciting, the most crucial and – sometimes – the most difficult.

Janet Lowore

A move from honey hunting to keeping bees in hives makes beekeeping accessible to women, who are very ready to participate. Ms Hawa Issah from Korjobator learns how to use a smoker. Hawa has seen honey hunters in her village selling honey and now has the chance to benefit from bees

This fresh ripe honey is black and very tasty. It is sought after in Ghana’s towns and cities and is very valuable!

Bees for Development Ghana continues to work with school children, through beekeeping clubs, introducing young people to the importance and bounty of bees

Benefits from beekeeping

The beekeepers who started learning beekeeping with us in 2017 and 2018 are now reaping the rewards. These are some of the ways cashew growers in Bono East told us they used the income they earned from honey selling:

� Building a toilet facility

� Paying hospital bills

� Paying off a debt

� Treatment for a broken leg

� Settling children’s house rent

� Making more hives

� Building a house

� Acquiring a piece of land

� Hiring labourers for the yam farm

� Paying school fees and buying yam seeds

� Ploughing farmland

� Buying groundnut seeds

UGANDA

Beekeeping resilience

Like many other organisations our work in Uganda came to an abrupt halt in March 2020 because of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Lockdown restrictions and social distancing measures have made our work difficult, especially among our beneficiaries with disabilities who often need one-on-one support with their helpers and our staff.

It strikes me that this lockdown period is a testament to just how resilient beekeeping can be to major shocks and stresses. No one could have predicted a total global lockdown for the world’s economies to dive and unemployment to skyrocket. But, of course, bees do not stop flying, or foraging, or making honey.

Before the pandemic our Project to use beekeeping to economically empower people with disabilities was well underway. Fifteen of our visually impaired beneficiaries in Gulu had received training and support adapted to their needs. Many are now in the process of establishing their newly designed apiaries that are easier to navigate and manage, and some have begun to enjoy the economic benefits that bees can bring from honey harvests. In Jinja deaf beekeeper beneficiaries working in the Project have undergone training to make their own hives from locally sourced materials. Each beekeeper left the training with three self-made hives and the skills to make many more. This was achieved with the help of TUNADO’s disability inclusion officer who signed a set of newly developed training posters adapted specifically for the deaf community.

Jennifer in Gulu, a visually impaired beekeeper, puts security seals onto her honey bottles using methods taught by our partners in the Project

When people are given the skills and knowledge to utilise their own resources, hives can be made with locally sourced materials. There is no need to wait for equipment because of border closures.

Honey in Uganda is often sold among neighbours or friends, so there is no travel needed to make a sale. Bees can be kept at home so there is no requirement to use limited public transport to go to work. It is for these reasons that beekeepers are not as susceptible to the shocks we have seen with the coronavirus pandemic and the threat of subsequent lockdowns.

As restrictions are slowly eased, we will continue to provide disability-specific training and support to our beneficiaries. Whilst this has not recently been possible, it is encouraging to see the progress our beneficiaries have made – Although the ‘Project’ may have been suspended, the beekeeping continues.

Sean Lawson

LETTER

I am delighted by the knowledge I have been gathering from receiving BfD Journal and have increased my number of colonies and interest in beekeeping. It rained heavily in Nyeri for many months and colonies absconded or were attacked by pests. I lost one colony from a top-bar hive after a caterpillar attached to the comb – is it a honey or hive moth? Paul Gee Rukwaro, ‘Enthusiastic Beekeeper’, Nyeri, Kenya

Hello Paul. We are sorry to hear that you have had problems with your bees, it is challenging at times! Do not be discouraged – bees are strong and resilient and will soon occupy your hives again.

The picture appears to show wax moth. These insects are present naturally everywhere and a strong colony has no problem with them. To create an environment most beneficial for your bees and to make them more resilient read: www.beesfordevelopment.org/categories/ choosing-an-apiary-site

KENYA

My journey with the bees has been interesting, good pollination is of great benefit and the honey is sweet. I have engaged in planting more trees for the bees to access for food.

The passion fruit trees were not healthy as they needed assistance, not just fertiliser but pollinators: things certainly improved once the bee pollinators were near!

Rev Tom Ochuka, Kisimu, Kenya

We are enjoying eating the passion fruit and the bees enjoy the flowers and nectar

ZIMBABWE

In July we facilitated a training workshop at Nagle House School in Marondera, Mashonaland East Province.

Within the School grounds, agroforestry (integrating crops with trees) can be practised easily. Beekeeping plays a major role in connecting forestry and crop farming activities through pollination and conservation initiatives. Bees nest in the forest (their natural habitat) and come out from the forests to pollinate crops that will improve their yields. Improved crop yields lead to improved food security.

A visit to the apiary

Training of Nagle House staff and students in sustainable beekeeping practices does not only contribute to the food security of households but raises awareness about the importance of sustainable forest management and economic development. While the rationale for sustainable use of tree resources is widely appreciated by beekeepers, by contrast the sustainable use of bee resources is poorly promoted and appreciated. Beekeeping in forest land can be used positively as an important tool to protect forests from fires. This can only be achieved where communities around schools have strong relationships with school staff and students that promote beekeeping projects in the school premises.

Besides pollination of crops, honey, bees wax and propolis can also be harvested as hive products and sold to generate cash. The project has potential to grow if the keeping of bees is considered as one of the major inputs of crop farming.

Objectives of the Workshop

1. To create awareness and promote beekeeping as a viable enterprise.

2. To demonstrate how beekeeping can be an important business venture.

3. To educate students and staff on how beekeeping can be integrated with other farming activities

4. To understand how beekeeping can support the livelihoods of individuals, families, communities and the nation.

Robert Mutisi, Forestry Executive, Makoni Beekeepers’ Association, Manicaland

Robert Mutisi explains the importance of using equal sized top-bars

Good siting of hives is important