CABESI - a multi-faceted, self-help project

Rolf Gloor, Kapenguria, Kenya and Hans-Ulrich Thomas, Zurich, Switzerland

Cabesi stands for Camels, Bees & Silk. These seemingly unrelated items play a central role in a development project funded by BioVision Foundation.

The West Pokot District is a marginalised area in north-west Kenya, bordering Uganda with a population of approximately 310,000. Only 4% of the 10,000 km2 of land can be cultivated: the rest is semi desert. Land degradation is severe, due to use of the land for livestock grazing and tree felling for firewood. Water is scarce and together with disputes over grazing rights, often leads to feuds and frequent food shortages. The Cabesi Project trains self-help groups and individuals in different skills. Emphasis is put on the economic empowerment of women, who are often overlooked when it comes to development activities and decision making.

The skills taught are beekeeping, malaria prevention, silk production, camel husbandry, and mango processing. ‘Cabesi Clubs’ have been established in four local schools. They meet on a weekly basis and learn more about beekeeping, environment and human health issues.

Camels

Camels are perfect animals for transportation: their hooves are less damaging to the ground than the hooves of cows or donkeys. The initial idea of Cabesi was to introduce the camels as transport animals (which had never been cone in the region), to enable beekeepers from remote places to sell their honey in the centres. The bigger project developed out of this idea.

Thirty young camels were bought in Wajir, about 550 km away, and after several weeks long walk, arrived at West Pokot. Some local people were sent for training as camel drivers. They are now applying their Skills in training the animals for their duties.

Bees

The last three years have been used to build up the necessary 2 ony infrastructure for the beekeeping part of the Project. Three honey collection centres have been built and 350 frame hives distributed to beekeepers and schools. After many trials, a local carpenter is now able to produce hives at a favorable price.

A continuous job is training of local groups in sustainable beekeeping methods. In Pokot, bees are kept in log hives - hollowed out tree trunks suspended in trees. Owing to the high defensiveness of the local bees, harvesting honey had meant the destruction of the nest or probable loss of the colony through absconding. Keeping honey bees in frame or top-bar

hives makes the job of honey harvesting easier, and also makes it more possible for women. The locally managed collection centres are buying honey from farmers for a price above the normal market price. After extraction the honey is transported to Kapenguria, the main city in Pokot. In the newly constructed market place, the honey is processed, bottled, labelled and packed well for the bumpy truck ride to Nairobi. Selling it there for a good price is no problem. A first trial with 1,200 jars for export to the UK has just been concluded. Most of the staff in the market place are women in need of income for themselves and survival of their families.

Stingless bees

In tropical areas stingless bees and honey bees are both important for pollination. Stingless bee nests are usually small and well hidden. The honey from stingless bees is highly esteemed by local people, is used in medicines and commands a very high price. Whoever finds a nest is the ‘owner’ of that colony and decides when time has come to harvest. Unfortunately nests are usually destroyed in that process. In a future project more sustainable forms of management have to be introduced, drawing on experiences with other species around the world.

Beeswax and propolis

Until Cabesi started in 2004, beeswax was not used by Pokot people and was discarded. This has now changed with the project yielding enough wax for the production of foundation for the frame hives and candles of different shapes and sizes. This is another product which is highly requested and gives women urgently needed income. Propolis cream, which helps in many skin irritations, is produced on a small-scale and enjoys a high demand in the local communities.

Outlook

To date the Cabesi programme has been a success. 400 beekeepers have benefited from training and good honey prices, 150 group members have benefited through education and work in the centres, about 40 came! owners have benefited through training, and many more through improved camel health. In addition 10 malaria scouts and 10 staff in the market place benefited through salaries, as well as four schools from extra curricula activities. The numbers are equally impressive: 10 tonnes of honey, 50 kg of sun dried mango, 200 kg of propolis and several thousand candles have been sold. Value addition is the idea, in which Cabesi wants to set an example. Every single step up to the final product is carried out within the district. This is the first processing and production plant in the whole district, bringing jobs and income to the area.

While quite a few things have been achieved, much is left to be done. Besides the practical work, other abilities and skills are needed. Business-orientated thinking and management of money, book-keeping and recording are not easy tasks in the community, where 7 out of 10 people are illiterate. Beekeeping itself has to improve in order to produce more quality honey. All this is done towards the two major goals: improvement of the life situation of the neglected Pokot Community through a sustainable use of the natural resources, and the conservation of the delicate environment.

BioVision is an independent, non-profit Swiss foundation which is politically and denominationally neutral. BioVision is active in the dissemination and implementation of scientific methods for sustainable improvement of living conditions in Africa. BioVision was founded in 1998 by Hans Rudolf Herren, with the aim to sustainably improve the living conditions of people in Africa and conserving nature as the basis of all life.

For further information see www.biovision.ch/E