Help women increase their income with beekeeping

The rainy season has just ended and the beekeepers need to go and check on their hives. The rains, the winds might have tilted the hives or taken the roof away.

In order to support the beekeepers we will send our specialist to each villages so that beekeepers can keep on learning. Also he will help them to clean the hives of the old balck honey which is not good for consumption.

Some beekeepers are collecting honey at this time which we are not recommending. Bees need to have some food waiting for the blossom time in January. The honey collected now has a very high water content which makes its conservation difficult.

We have just found out that honey is very good to help to heal cuts.

There are still a lot of women waiting to have hives. 

Thank you for your help to divulgate this project.

IT IS HELPING WOMEN TO HAVE MORE REVENUES WITH LITTLE WORK.

• Report on beekeeping 2014-2019 (PDF)
  

Between the month of June until end of September it is rainy season in Burkina Faso.

During this period, villagers are busy cultivating the fields. There is only one rainy season in Burkina Faso. The whole ressources (food and cash) of the family come mainly from the work in the fields during this period. In order to compensate for a bad rainy season or to increase the revenus of the families, other activities not related to the rains are needed: collect of fruits (mango, cashew nuts) or beekeeping.

Women are telling us that beekeeping allow them to have honey for their own consumption and to have revenu for the part they sell.

During this part of the year there are not many flowers.To survive bees are eating some of the honey they have produced after the harvest we have made in April.

Next activity will be to look at the hives in October to see how they went through the rainy periode and to clean around them all the grass / trees which have grown during this period.

Women need your support to have more hives to help them support their families.

We count on you.

Links:

• Testimony from women beekeepers in Sissa (Burkina Faso)

As you may remember we have both been able to distribute more hives to women in the villages, but we also have also added intensive training.

Training was about the bees, the hives, how to place the hives, how to maintain them and how and when to harvest the honey.

This training and a lot of blossom on trees have brought an excellent harvest for the women. The best results was in the village of Nefrelaye.

There are now 52 women who have received hives. They have harvested an average of 26 kg of honey per women. The biggest harvest was of 65 kg for one woman in the village of Nefrelaye.

In term of revenue this add 38 euro (42us$) in average per woman. To put this into context, this is at least multiplying by 2 the annual revenues of a woman in the villages.

The work is minimum for the women (bees do the work) and there is no conflict for land (very little space needed).

In order to give some structure to this project, we have helped the women to create what is called a "simplified cooperative" for beekeeping in each village. This will help communication, control of the quality of the raw honey, negociation with suplliers or buyers. 

The women are really enthousiast and they want more hives. 

Can you help us to communicate about this project. It makes a lot of difference for the women in their development and for their self reliance.

Thank you.

Since last report there was not much human activities around the hives. However it is a period when bees are working overtime.

Most of the fruit trees are in full blossom: mango, cashew ,locust bean and shea nuts trees.

It is the time also when some hives swarms. This happens mainly when the hive is overcrowded. This swarm with the old queen will look for a proper place stay. We have several cases when the swarm goes into building. This can create a lot of problem. At our Private Agricultural School we can barely get some equipment from a workshop. Bees are not naturally aggressive, but when on the move you better stay away. We had two girls with multiple bites whom we had to take to the local hospital for treatment.

We are approaching the main harvest time. We expect to have the beekeepers active with the harvesting of the honey has of mid-March.

Next report we will be able to tell you how was the harvest, according to some beekeepers it looks like a good year for honey.

Women will be very pleased with their extra income. I am sure that you know somebody who can help a women to become a beekeeper. Bees communicate with dances, you only have to send a link to your friends.

Thank you for your continuous support.

As we have reported in our last report, we have provided 250 new hives to villagers, mainly for women.

Training and installation of the hives took place in July during the rainy season. Almost 100% of the 250 hives have been swarmed.

It is now time for the bees to do their job. Around the end of October, there is the possibility to harvest a little bit of honey. Taking into account the very long rainy season, we have decided not to harvest the hives. Bees need the honey they have produced for food until the new flowers comes out.

The main harvest will be in April 2019.

Climate change is having major impact on culture yields. Pollination can help maintain a certain level of production for fields and fruit trees. Bees play a major role in this pollination.

The extra revenue from the sales of honey is very important for the women. For once women get somebody else (the bees) working for them instead of working for others!

At this year-end we hope you can help more women get some hives.

Season greetings from the women of the villages.