BEEKEEPING FOR PROSPERITY
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WHAT: Well managed, modern
apiaries will be used to demonstrate the positive effect of beekeeping
for income generation and reforestation. They will provide a sustainable source
of manageable income for beekeepers and provide a consistent supply of
honey and wax for sale.
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| Bee Hives in Gambia |
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| WHY: Deforestation is a serious problem in Gambia
and today there are only a few primary forests left. Community forest
management is a long term project and people need to identify income-
generating activities within those forests. One of the best identified
activities is beekeeping. Once someone starts beekeeping, they begin to
receive earnings within 2-3 months, and beekeeping can provide more
income than the annual farming income. The result is that people are
then interested in protecting the forest, because they need enough
trees and flowers for their bees.
There is a long tradition in
Gambia of using wild honey and in most communities there is traditional
beekeeping knowledge. The bees themselves are native to Africa, thus
being very resistant to disease. The idea of incorporating beekeeping
into community forests came from the farmers themselves, and most of
the honey produced is sold in Gambia, where it is also used in
medication. In words of Amadou Ceesay, of the National Beekeepers
Association of the Gambia, beekeeping “is the fastest and cheapest way
of protecting forests, because local communities benefit from it.”
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HOW: The Gambia Beekeeping Project has 4 components:
- Select a group of 25 women farmers and 25 men
farmers to develop an integrated natural resources management approach
to beekeeping, building on local practices to improve the utilization,
management and conservation of native trees and crops.
- Purchase the modern beekeeping equipment.
- Provide training to the locally selected beekeepers in sustainable
beekeeping, conservation and participatory project management.
- Organize self-sustaining associations and networks for the production and marketing of high value honey products.
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| RESULTS:
50 Gambian farmers have been provided with modern bee hives and bee
keeping equipment, and have been trained as bee keepers. Of those 50, 33
are women. With Abundance Fund support, the communities purchased 250
Kenyan-made beehives. Each hive produces 50 liters of honey and the
market price per liter is one about $6. The total revenue generated by a
hive during harvest season is estimated at about $300. Honey is
harvested 6 times per year, so, when all the hives are purchased and in
use, the estimated annual gross revenue from 250 hives is about
$450,000. In addition to the purchase of hives and other equipment, the
Abundance Fund supported the training of the beekeepers.
In a country where most people survive on less than a dollar a day, this project has a huge impact! Because of the added income from the harvest of honey and
beeswax, the participants can expect an improvement in their average
annual income of almost 30%. That extra income can help pay for school
fees, medicine, and food.
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