Beekeeping in Wulu, South Sudan

Janet Lowore, Programme Manager, Bees for Development UK and Andrea Akol, Executive Director, Humanitarian Actors for Grassroots Initiative, Juba, South Sudan

Beekeeping is the main source of cash income for the Jur Bele community in Wulu County in the Lakes State of South Sudan. Farmers set up hives which they make themselves from natural materials in and around their homesteads.

Farmers report that beekeeping is very beneficial, because it is possible to generate good income from selling honey, yet hives take up little space in the homestead. It is common for members of the Bele community to use honey as wealth for dowry payments and beekeepers with more hives are respected in the community. Honey mixed with other products like groundnuts and sesame is nutritious and sells well in the market. Beekeeping helps with food security as a source of economic exchange and helps people survive.

The peak seasons for harvesting honey in the county are May to June and September to October. After harvest the honey is separated from the wax and packed in bottles for sale in the local market, with some sold further away. The Wulu Beekeeping Association processes and packs honey for sale in Juba and Rumbek.

Wulu County is currently suffering from an economic downturn and high inflation, brought about by inter-communal conflicts. Local people survive by growing their own food and have little disposable cash income. The price of food and other commodities has increased drastically, and the poorest people are struggling. This means that the demand for income-generating activities like beekeeping is increasing, although they are affected by conflict and violence.

The conflict is characterised by clan fighting, and cattle raiding, looting and burning of houses, causing people to be displaced from the worst affected areas to villages around

Bamboo hives are sited in locations away from beekeepers’ homes, but this makes them vulnerable to honey theft and damage.

Images © Humanitarian Actors for Grassroots Initiative

Wulu town. The cattle migration route passes through Wulu to Mvolo in Eastern Equatoria. The process causes problems for beekeepers – especially theft of hives and honey. There is huge potential for more beekeeping in and around Wulu, but these episodic and unpredictable conflicts are posing serious problems. During the seasonal migrations of the cattle herders to the Wulu territory, hives and crops are destroyed by the youth.

Humanitarian Actors for Grassroots Initiative (HAGI) is a local NGO working to support the livelihoods and provide emergency support to 10,000 households in Wulu County. Recognising the value and potential of beekeeping in the area, HAGI is working with the local community to overcome problems. One approach is to demonstrate how to establish home apiaries, as an alternative to placing hives widely dispersed in forests and communal lands – where they are at risk of theft (beekeepers have been robbed of their honey when carrying it back home from distant locations). Experienced beekeepers know where to place hives to attract migrating swarms and know that distant forest sites are rich in bee forage and water. But the insecurity is making this approach to extensive beekeeping untenable at present.

With support from donor agencies HAGI has been working with beekeepers to trial top-bar hives in home-based apiaries instead of using bamboo hives in distant locations.

However, while the security situation is obliging beekeepers to set up apiaries closer to the village, it is not clear whether changing to top-bar hives is beneficial compared to using low-cost bamboo hives, in terms of efficiency, honey yields and profitability.

Images © Humanitarian Actors for Grassroots Initiative

Daniel Madokunde Chairperson, Wulu Beekeeping Association

Daniel is 37 years of age and responsible for his large, extended family. He started beekeeping when he was eight, when he helped his father. He learnt all the skills and aged 12 he started making his own hives from bamboo. He learned to position the hives in trees near water points and along swampy sites where bee swarms are attracted to them.

As a young man life was good, the money from honey sales enabled him to marry, construct four houses and buy goats and a pair of oxen. Food was plentiful and he was able to provide all the basic needs for his family. However, in 2009 fighting broke out between the Bele and Dinka from a neighbouring district. This led to much destruction: his 30 colonised hives were destroyed, and his goats and oxen were looted. His house, and his belongings, were burnt to ashes. This unbearable situation forced him to move with his family to Domoloto Payam. The fighting intensified for months and there was no food to eat as people were running for their lives.

In 2010 they started cultivation in the place they were living as Internally Displaced People, but he was reluctant to site more hives as he did not want them destroyed. Finally in 2014 he moved back to Wulu and his life as a beekeeper started again. He managed to make 20 hives and added these to some he was given by a donor agency. All the hives were occupied, and his first harvest was promising, enabling him to re-establish his livelihood with the help of beekeeping. Daniel was elected chairperson of the local Beekeeping Association, a position he has held for six years. The Association works as a group buying honey from other beekeepers, processing, packing and selling. Daniel continues to make more hives at home and currently he has 40 which are all occupied.

The group buys a 20-litre bucket of honeycomb at US$36 (€34), which they refine to produce 10 litres of liquid honey to sell at US$5.5 (€5.0) per litre. This earns US$55 (€52) in total, and US$19 (€18) profit per bucket: there is a good market for honey. (These are 2021 prices).

Daniel continues to face challenges. For example, some years there is a scarcity of honey and packaging containers are expensive. Lack of inputs such as boots, buckets, protective clothing and smokers are also problems.

Daniel has never regretted venturing into beekeeping as a business and he encourages more farmers to practise it as it is so profitable. He welcomes other organisations to support and encourage more farmers into beekeeping.

There is a good market for honey, and it is used for dowry payments.

There is a good market for honey, and it is used for dowry payments.