News

CHILE

Protest about loss of bees

Four beekeepers were detained following a demonstration in Santiago calling for government support. A prolonged drought has affected food sources (flowers and crops) ravaging beekeeping in Chile. To highlight their cause, beekeepers set up 60 hives in front of the presidential palace blocking a main thoroughfare. Several police officers were stung as they tried to remove the hives.

One of the protesters told journalists the death of bee colonies is devastating not just for them, but for the whole world. Protesters want government reform to improve honey prices or provide subsidies for honey producers. Ministry of Agriculture officials say they share the protesters’ concern about the effect of the drought, and that they had been providing aid to 20 communities experiencing severe water shortages.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world/latin_america (January 2022)

SIERRA LEONE

Prior to Covid-19, food access in Sierra Leone was already constrained due to inflation and the depreciation of the local currency for the past three years, with below average crop production and high dependency on imported foodstuffs.

There is urgent need to address the health, social and economic conditions of the most vulnerable people.

Following the first cases of Covid-19 in March 2020, the Government put in place restrictive measures, including two periods of total lockdown, market closures and curfew.

Fear of contracting the virus (remembering the Ebola Crisis) led to over 60% of the population staying at home - resulting in further economic slowdown.

As there are now many widows, the National Women’s Fellowship in the Christian Reformed Church in Sierra Leone is implementing an Income Generating Beekeeping Project for female-headed households. Training is in Firawa village in northern Sierra Leone as part of the pilot project, and we will send updates as we progress.

PHOTOS FROM SIERRA LEONE

Mrs Kumba Sesay is the National Women’s Fellowship Leader in the Christian Reformed Church in Sierra Leone

Joseph Kalle Sesay

Many young children help their parents in the project and will learn to become beekeepers

Joseph Kalle Sesay

Give your bees shade to help keep hives cool and to protect them from severe weather

Joseph Kalle Sesay