Top five highlights of 2025
Blog by Jane Barnes
Posted: 16 December 2025
Over the past year, Bees for Development has seen meaningful impact across our work. We’ve chosen five highlights to share with you.
Image above: Molla Adugna, a farmer who participated in the More Bees project using a botanical pesticide on his tomato crop
2025 saw the successful completion after three years of the Darwin funded More Bees project supporting agrobiodiversity and livelihoods in Amhara, Ethiopia.
Heavy use of pesticides was killing bees and other helpful insects, putting farmers’ and beekeepers’ livelihoods at risk. This project worked with farmers, scientists, and extension officers near Lake Tana in Ethiopia to promote nature-friendly farming, with a focus on safer ways to manage pests.
Farmers learned how to recognise and protect pollinators, control pests without relying on harmful chemicals, and keep bees using simple, low-cost methods.
As a result of our work for More Bees, 692 participating farmers reduced their pesticide application frequency on average by 59%. In addition to this, the average honey production per beekeeper increased from 32.9 kg to 64.4 kg reflecting a 95.7% increase in a sample of 199 beekeepers in a pesticide-prone area. This is excellent proof that by reducing pesticide use, small-scale farmers can increase and diversify their income through beekeeping.
Image above: Indigenous women have safeguarded stingless bees for generations, protecting the forest systems that sustain food, medicine, and life. Where Indigenous knowledge endures, stingless bees continue to sustain resilient forests and communities
In April 2025, Bees for Development partnered with Amazon Research Internacional to work with stingless beekeepers in the Peruvian Amazon. Through Amazon Research Internacional’s work, women, men and youth from Ashaninka and Kukama-kukamiria communities are learning sustainable stingless beekeeping practices that not only protect these critical pollinators but also generate income, restore forests, and strengthen cultural identity.
In 2026 we are planning to fundraise for this work through our Big Give Earth Raise (formerly Green Match) campaign.
Image above: Solitary bee home, as part of our Chelsea Flower Show garden
We’ve had a very busy events calendar this year with Monty Don & Kate Humble kicking off the year “In Conversation” at the Blake Theatre in our hometown of Monmouth. Another huge highlight for our year was the Chelsea Flower Show where we had a Balcony Garden showcasing how everyone can welcome pollinators into their gardens or balconies – whatever size they are!
Upon seeing our Balcony Garden – Making Life Better with Bees, visitors were treated to a vibrant garden bursting with colour, nature and sustainability. Inspired by our work in Africa and the link between bees, people and biodiversity, the garden delivered a strong message giving the public ideas to take home to their own garden space.
We were joined at Chelsea by our newly appointed Patron Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and were thrilled to be awarded the People’s Choice Award!
Image above: Honey collected from beekeepers ready for processing
We are delighted that Bees for Development Ghana’s “Digya Forest Honey” has been certified by the Food and Drug Authority in Ghana and is now on sale as a mainstream product. The honey comes from the Kwahu Afram Plains in Ghana, where sustainable beekeeping is transforming rural livelihoods and landscapes. Produced by small‑scale beekeepers trained and supported by Bees for Development Ghana, Digya Forest Honey represents a growing market for naturally‑harvested honey that respects people and the environment.
In this region, communities once relied on destructive activities like charcoal and timber production. Now, beekeeping offers a viable and sustainable income alternative, helping families earn money while protecting forests.
The honey is processed through a local Honey and Beeswax Trade Centre in Donkorkrom, where each batch is traceable back to the beekeeper, a system that boosts quality and transparency.
Digya Forest Honey not only brings a delicious, natural product to market but also supports community resilience, environmental conservation and fair pay for Ghanaian beekeepers.
Image above: Registering beekeepers onto the traceability system in Southwest Ethiopia
In 2026, 10 tonnes of traceable honey was sold by beekeepers through the Bees for Development traceability system – 7.5 tonnes in Ethiopia and 2.5 tonnes in Ghana. The system is designed to work in remote areas with no internet connection and can give near live traceability data to honey buyers looking to buy honey produced through our projects.
The traceability system provides the beekeepers with many benefits they can give to buyers, encouraging more interest in their honey and better prices while also combatting any concerns of adulteration or finding sources of contamination.
“Before, I could barely sell enough to take care of my family because I did not have the required beekeeping knowledge and skill. Again, due the level of poverty and ignorance many buyers took advantage of our situation bought our honey any price they so wish leaving us with generational poverty. There was no stable price for our product. Now, the story has changed, there is reliable market and stable price, I am saving money and planning to build a better house because I earn good money from selling honeycombs.”
– Issaka Abubakar who has sold 800kg of honey earning over £1300 through the Donkorkrom Honey & Beeswax Trade Centre.
You can support our work into 2026, by making a single or regular donation. Many thanks for your continued support and we look forward to updating you more on our impactful work in the new year.
