From poacher to beekeeper
Story
“We used to hunt elephants… we began beekeeping as a business. Bees now keep wild animals from our crops.”
Isaac Isura from Uganda used to be a poacher of animals in a wildlife park. After working with us to learn beekeeping, Isaac moved from poaching to earn a living and now earns more income from his bees than he did before.
The wildlife authority gave his community an area on the boundary of the park to place their hives and now they not only provide a cash crop for Isaac, but also help to keep away wild animals who used to damage the crops.
Isaac is a small-scale farmer, who adds to his income with sales of honey. The presence of the bees has the additional benefit of discouraging wild animals from eating his crops.
The Power of Bees. Bees offer a wonderful way to help people in extreme poverty. Bees do not need to be fed: they find their own food and water. Simple hives can be well made from locally available materials, and bees are freely available from nature. Beekeeping is even possible for people with no land of their own. It offers a feasible livelihood option, with good markets for honey and beeswax.
Bees for Development fights chronic poverty by targeting the most disadvantaged groups: single women, young people, families without land or other assets, and people with disabilities. We help people like Jennifer obtain bees, establish apiaries, and develop profitable beekeeping enterprises.
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People in extreme poverty helped to earn their income from honey
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Leaders trained to become exemplary beekeepers, training others and developing their own enterprises
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Centre of Excellence: Bees for Development Ethiopia is enabled to continuously support trainees as they build resilient livelihoods
