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Beekeeping project is well underway in Babati, Tanzania
What a difference a year makes! At the beginning of this year, 12 beekeeping groups were formed in six villages in the district of Babati, Northern Tanzania. People in these villages have been harvesting honey from forest bees for many years but were unaware of the economic benefits of selling their honey at market. The aim of these groups was to teach its members how to yield more valuable, high quality honey from modern, more efficient hives.
FARM-Africa helped group members to open a bank account, where they each saved 10% towards the cost of purchasing modern, Langstroph beehives. These hives yield more, high quality honey than the traditional hives used by community members.
Two demonstration sites were established by FARM-Africa, each equipped with both traditional and modern beehives. Using the different hives, members were able to compare honey production from each hive type and learn the beekeeping practices they would need once they had their own hives. So far, 192 members have received training in modern beekeeping practices.
By June this year, 180 group members had saved their 10% contribution towards the modern Langstroph hives and received a total of 393 hives. Group members were then shown how to assess and evaluate suitable sites on which to conduct their beekeeping activities. Group members got to work straight away and by July, 298 hives had already been colonised by forest bees!
The first honey harvest is due this month, when over 2,300kg of honey is expected to be harvested. Group members will have a guaranteed market for their honey at fair trade prices and farmers are expected to receive total earnings of around £3,270 for their honey.
The success of this project has led to plans to replicate this success in other villages and support more communities to earn a living from the forest bees.
Click here to read the full project update
Comments
Hi Helen Ihave been impress with the methodoloy employed to implementatiion a project,fine enough the achievement reached so far.Iam requisting, if posssible can I have a project proposal so that can be replicated here at Iringa. WIth regards.Mwemmbe
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