Bees for Development Journal
66
NEWS AROUND THE WORLD
CAMEROON
CUBA
More assistance please! Spurred on and encouraged by BfD Journal and the Workshop Box we received from Bees for Development, we want to make beekeeping our priority activity. We manage our own hives and we have also a shared apiary and the land on which to build a processing centre. We are in the process of forming an association of beekeeping groups affiliated to our own, with the aim of exporting honey. To be more effective, we have split our group into two: The Bambui Teachers' Association and The Bambui Organic Farmers Common Initiative Group.
The Apimondia Apitherapy Commission held a symposium in Havana in October
We held our first one-day seminar in Bambui in September 2002 with 60 participants attending. We hope to organise more seminars in other villages in our Province to enlist at least 3,000 beekeepers, but we face difficulties. The first seminar cost much money, time, energy and travelling. Most people trekked to the venue, some arrived late and few had anything to eat. We are thinking hard how we can organise seminars in other villages that are far from Bambui. In this respect we would appreciate assistance.
knowledge of apitherapy. Participants studied biology, pharmacy and medicine, and were able to learn in depth about apitherapy. The friendly atmosphere of this international gathering led to many interesting discussions.
Nwunfor Peter Muma, Bambui Teachers Association, Bamenda
2002. Over 180 people from 14 different countries took part, with 53 Cuban health institutions represented. Six invited experts worked alongside five Cuban experts to pass on their
you can help the Bambui beekeepers please contact them c/o Bees for Development
Roch Domerego Apimondia Standing Commission for Apitherapy
ECUADOR
GHANA
If
Assistance needed in Morona Santiago Asociacién de Trabajadores Agropecuarios Santa Isabel de Macas wants to help 15 families to start
beekeeping as an income-yielding undertaking based on, but not destructive to, the environment. Someone earning an income from beekeeping quickly becomes an advocate for forest preservation. Beekeeping also lessens the likelihood of bush fires started by honey hunters when they smoke wild colonies. Apiculture is an activity that is recognised by the local culture. Our idea is to build
FRANCE
a business and to sell honey locally and regionally, ensuring a fair price for the beekeepers as well as increasing crop production especially coffee, cocoa, lemon and orange.
Our project will help the families involved and also the 15,000 inhabitants of Macas, the capital of Morona Santiago Province Any assistance would be gratefully received. Danilo Tayopanta Project Director
A viable venture The Centre for Development of Humanity held a five-day workshop for 100 participants with the theme Making beekeeping a viable venture. Participants from two community-based groups heard about the value and practice of beekeeping: species and races of bees; the first season; honey harvesting and processing wax.
you would like to help please contact the Association c/o Bees for Development If
Robert N Kpontsu Nickliz Foundation Hohoe
KENYA
MOROCCO
Honey Care Africa, based in Nairobi, has won an Equator Initiative Award. They received a US$30,000 prize, a certificate and trophy, awarded at the Earth Summit
Near East Foundation
French beekeepers report the deaths of millions of bees as a result of pesticide spraying on farmland. 4,000 colonies in southwest France and hundreds more in Brittany have been destroyed. Beekeepers are losing honey and witnessing their bees suffering painful deaths. 20,000 plant species in France are dependent upon bees for their survival so this catastrophe will have environmental as well as financial implications. The beekeepers' anger has resulted in a series of lawsuits. In the southwest a criminal inquiry led to the managers of two local firms being charged on suspicion of importing black market Spanish pesticides. The judge in charge believes he is on the trail of an illegal pesticide trade. Not all beekeepers share his view: some blame the authorised pesticide Gaucho, whilst others say the problem is the multitude of different pesticides used by farmers.
Source:
The Times, 2002
January 2003
Johannesburg in 2002. The Equator Initiative Awards, sponsored by UNDP in partnership with the Government of
in
Canada, IUCN, Nature Conservancy and others, honour community projects that represent outstanding efforts to reduce poverty through the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Honey Care Africa's business model enables local farmers to become beekeepers via a small-scale financing programme. As prize winners Honey Care Africa will be involved in a 2003 campaign to improve community-based knowledge, as well as help transfer their successful environmentally-friendly business practices at the national and international level. HISD
Linkages Update
12
Bagi
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mF af
A team of beekeepers inspect a honeycomb at one of NEF's agricultural projects in Morocco, where apprentices learn beekeeping.
