Appropriate training for beekeepers

Clive de Bruyn, 22 Millwrights, Tiptree, Essex C05 0lQ, UK

Keywords: development, legislation, LIDEFO, local knowledge, pollination, Uganda

The word Appropriate is defined as ‘suitable for the occasion or circumstances’, and this is my theme for this article. I spent December 2010 in Uganda working with subsistence farmers in a rural community.

LIDEFO

In Autumn 2010 I was approached by Liberty Development Foundation (LIDEFO) who plan to advance beekeeping and honey processing activities in the area around Kasese. Their stated aim is to persuade people - especially those with the fewest resources – to take up beekeeping because of its ability to be a source of income with minimal labour and capital investment. They were looking for technical support to achieve their goals. I exchanged several e-mails with LIDEFO about the work they were trying to do and they requested a summary of my circumstances and qualifications. The result of which was my visit to Kasese in December 2010 to see what could be done.

Kasese lies at the base of the Rwenzori Mountains which has snow capped peaks despite lying on the equator. A short distance away lies the Queen Elizabeth National Park. The district is one of the poorest areas in Uganda, and this region has struggled with development compared with other parts of the country. I was told by the LIDEFO Founder and Director, Daniel Ngangasi, that the first secondary school in Kasese was built only in 1975, while other parts of the country, like the capital Kampala, had these schools in 1875. Farming is the principal occupation and everyone seemed to have a small plot of land to grow their own food. Most people work on the land, even young children.

In UK supermarkets the fruit and vegetables are clean, nicely shaped without blemish, often sealed in plastic and with hardly any taste. In Kasese the food is rough, misshaped, pock marked, but freshly picked and the taste is sublime.

Freshly picked fruit for sale

Advice that is appropriate

From my time as the County Beekeeping Instructor at Writtle Agricultural College in the UK I know that not everyone is cut out to be a beekeeper. In my early days I naively thought I could turn anyone into a beekeeper. I soon learned that I would be doing a good job for the craft if I could persuade certain individuals to buy their honey and not keep bees personally.

In the UK I see little point in anyone keeping bees without looking after them. Honey bees in the UK can suffer from many diseases which have to be monitored and, in some cases, treated. Our island is heavily populated and honey bee swarms cause concern for neighbours who are not beekeepers. It is also antisocial to keep bad tempered bees who might wreak their vengeance on innocent passers by.

My advice to anyone wishing to become a beekeeper is to attend a course. Also to learn something about the fascinating natural history of bees and get stung a few times before acquiring bees. I feel that this advice is appropriate to the situation in the UK. Legislation exists that renders certain diseases notifiable, so it is in all beekeepers’ interests to know about disease and to be able to check the health of their colonies. Legislation also exists to prevent bees becoming a nuisance. Happily such incidents are rare. However, the press thrives on disaster and the bad publicity of people being stung reflects on apiarists everywhere. In some countries keeping bees within city limits is banned.

From my work in Madagascar, Nepal and various Caribbean islands I know that the situation is different in other nations. Many bee farmers are not hobbyists. Bees are kept for honey and other hive products to sell for supplementary income. Beekeeping fits in with other farming practices.

Situations vary

In sub Saharan Africa the situation is completely different from that of the UK. Local bees in Africa have evolved to take advantage of the available flora and to exploit the local climate. The resident human population may be poor financially, but they are rich in other assets. Rural people have a good knowledge of bees, plants and places favoured by bees. Local beekeepers have a great wealth of useful knowledge that can be used in the development of more sustainable beekeeping methods.

There are few diseases with which local races of African honey bees are unable to cope. There is still ample space for people and bees. The issue of a swarm in Africa is not a cause for panic but hopefully another colony of bees to look after. Yes, the bees may be defensive but rural people are more tolerant of wildlife. The bees can be kept away from dwellings where they might be a nuisance. Training people to keep bees in such circumstances is completely different from anything I taught in the UK.

Class at Bugoye

PHOTO © CLIVE DE BRUYN

Appropriate presentations

Equally methods of keeping bees suited to local people and their resources in rural Africa may not be right in the UK. In either instance any schooling given should be appropriate to the students, the available resources and the environment. A focus on people’s strengths rather than their weaknesses pays dividends. A classroom of academic students in a lecture theatre in a college might well tolerate “death by PowerPoint”. A group of practical farmers sitting in the open under the shade of a tree listening to my words, translated line by line, is a completely different proposition.

The rural communities I met could be reached only as a pillion passenger on a boda-boda motorbike taxi. Even then, the terrain was difficult with the trail littered with boulders, trees, rivers, and other creatures. Everything had to be carried on the boda-boda: two passengers, beekeeping gear, camera and lunch. When the destination was reached, there were often no electricity, piped water or sanitary facilities. There were certainly no lecture halls, no means of showing videos or pictures, and often not even a blackboard and chalk.

I gave presentations at five different centres. Lessons were held in a variety of situations: a local church, a school and three times in the open. My teaching aids consisted of what I could pick up in the locality. I carried my own chalk and improvised a chalkboard from a table top and a wooden bench on its side. In trying to make a point about pollination the audience did not need fancy diagrams of flower structure or honey bees. The flowers of coffee, mango, paw paw, as well as the fruit were all around. They could see bees active in the cotton flowers. My visual aids were simple and the audience could relate to what I was saying.

How different from my situation this week when I am spending the whole day talking to groups of school children in the UK about pollination. You could be excused for thinking that a formal lecture and perhaps even a PowerPoint presentation would be appropriate. Indeed it would. Nevertheless I will still be making my point with fruit and vegetables from the greengrocer and flowers I collect on my journey to the school.