Beekeeping in the Tropical Rainforest

Beekeeping for poverty alleviation: Set up of a honey lab ‘Miellerie’ to improve a conservation beekeeping in South East province Cameroon.

Set up of a honey lab for sustainable beekeeping in the northern periphery of the Dja natural reserve. Southeast Cameroon.

Location

Summery

Beekeeping in the tropical rainforest

Because of its multi-purpose role and the crucial position of the honey bee in the food chain, beekeeping should be an integral part of rural development strategies and policies, not only for the direct benefit of human well-being (MDG Millemnium goals 1 & 7²), but also for the parallel environmental services it provides – pollination, pollinator protection, biodiversity conservation and, indirectly, reduced and more responsible pesticide applications because of increased awareness.

In our project, conservation is directly linked to the development of the local communities. The final goal is that the local communities get convinced of the potential of auto-development by rational use of their natural resources.

A majority of the inhabitants of these villages live below the poverty line with limited prospects for sustainable means of livelihoods. Hunting wild game therefore is their main and most important means of subsistence and income generation. The challenge here is to provide an alternative income source for these people. The project will develop beekeeping in the area and assist local people to increase their income through the enhancement of capacity building in skills training and inking them up to markets. It will develop field extension services and a centre for sustainable beekeeping which will train and advice in sustainable modern bee farming. The project will also have wider environmental benefits such as improved crop pollination, forest and soil erosion protection and prevention of honey hunting related bush fires. The project will maximize the uptake of beekeeping by the poorest members of society by: training local artisans to make affordable beekeeping equipment, funding a revolving micro credit scheme to provide start up loans to the poorest people who might otherwise be unable to start bee farming.

Beekeeping in the tropical rainforest is a pilot project set up for the benefits of the local people and to raise awareness for protection of the rainforest. Honey hunting or honey harvesting which involves robbing honey from wild bee colonies is one of the most ancient human activities and is still practiced in the rainforest by local populations.

Most of the time colonies are destroyed and bushfires cause damages because of uncontrolled burning of trees and fumigating the nests of wild bees.

This project will not only be a pilot study for sustainable beekeeping but become a model for beekeeping elsewhere in rainforest area.

Objective

Honey hunting and traditional beekeeping using straw, clay pots, bark and log hives have long been part of the subsistence economy of the people of the forest zones of the East Province of Cameroon the. Honey-hunting from feral colonies of bees is done by many people on an opportunistic basis. Beekeeping, on the other hand, is often described as a `specialist enterprise', or a `way-of-life', originally practiced by a minority of people, with the skills passed on from generation to generation within families. Our intention therefore is to move from “honey hunting from feral colonies of bees to beekeeping as a specialist enterprise and make beekeeping a part of their lives.
Although beekeeping is underplayed in official policy and planning it contributes significantly to livelihood security. Bees produce a valued food and generate valuable income. Little land or capital is needed for beekeeping. Until a year ago non of the children had the possibility to go to a school because there was no school in the villages and no money to send children 50km further to a school. With the profit of one beehive a mother can send one or more children to a school a whole year on. Apas created that possibility to reopen a local school. Thanks to the honey children will have a possibility to go to that school and improve their lives.

Benefits of beekeeping :
1.Income generation:
Honey improves diet and is essential for traditional medicines. When markets are available, honey production and products such as candles and body creams (madefrom the by-products of bees) provide much needed income to supplementthelives ofsubsistence farmers.
2.Environmental protection
Bees are good pollinators and many flowering plants depend on insects, such as bees, to transfer pollen. Inadequate pollination results in low yields of uneven and small fruits. It is estimated that more than 75% of the crops in warmer countriesbenefit from bee pollination. It contributes towards increasing pollination and, as such, enhances the quality and quantity of fruit and seed production;

It maintains biodiversity and preserves the natural habitat in land-use planning, such as avoiding the felling of trees on which bees forage.

Sustainable beekeeping helps in protecting trees; this also reduces soil erosion and in turn conserves biodiversity. Most traditional hives are made from available local materials that are easy to work with few adjustments. The cost is low and their use for hive building is very profitable. Sustainable beekeeping techniques help prevent bush fires.
Protection of trees and forests. Communities receive economic benefits from standing trees (fuel, increased water production, erosion protection among others). As a group, beekeepers have a vested interest in protecting and planting trees - the source of their honey.
3.Health:
Honey contains medicinal properties thatcan be used insimple foods, such astea, to provide daily health benefits for local populations. The benefit from bee pollination. ensures permanently available natural remedies within the local health care (apitherapy) and supplements (nutrition).

It is sold for cash proceeds to education, food, medical treatment and other requirements to pay. The beeswax is an important raw ingredient of candles, creams, ointments, soaps and polishes. But also can be sterilised and sold on a price more important than the honey itself. Women are more interested in making beehive products than men. So make ointments and lotions and the use of wax, propolis (royal jelly) and honey for medicinal and use in the household of particular interest to them
Goals:

To strengthen local capacities and improve the livelihood of communities through sustainable beekeeping. Although beekeeping is underplayed in official policy and planning it contributes significantly to livelihood security. Bees produce a valued food and generate valuable income. Little land or capital is needed for beekeeping.

Beekeeping is an activity that women can benefit from to a very large extent. Its gender sensitivity makes it suitable for women to get involved. This in turn increases income, the well-being of the family as well as the self esteem of women. At the national level, beekeeping has the potential to bring about increased GDP for Cameroon. The organizing of a honey becomes very important for harvesting and treat honey in an hygienic way. A local hut without water and electricity makes this impossible.

Honey improves diet and is essential for traditional medicines. When markets are available, honey production and products such as candles and body creams (made from the by-products of bees) provide much needed income to supplement the lives of subsistence farmers. The group of beekeepers is the first in the region and can play an important role in the periphery of Dja.

This is a pilot study whose results will be used :
1. To inform national policy makers.

2. To serve as a model for the rest of the DBR

3.To initiate development actions that will improve the living conditions of local communities through training on sustainable beekeeping methods.

4.To link bee farmers to niche markets in the future . Encouraging the participation of rural farmers in the practice of bee keeping serves a multitude of purposes and provides substantial benefits to rural communities.

5.To raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity, environmental conservation and the potential improving livelihoods through beekeeping in 6 communities of the East Province of Cameroon by 2007

6.To develop and strengthen capacity to collect and disseminate scientific and technical information on bees and beekeeping.
7. The local communities and other beneficiaries of its programs shall participate fully to the fruition of the project activities. This approach instills in the people a sense of belonging and ownership and hence facilitates sustainability of the project.

History

APAS is small Belgian based npo that sustainable development and education uses as a tool for nature conservation. Apas works in West Central Africa, Cameroon and focuses on small rainforest villages at the northern periphery of the DJA reserve, southeastern Cameroon. Six hours from Yaoundé to reach the first village and 1,5 hours to a day walking between them, because transport does not exist. All apas members were in the past members of a scientific project of the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp (RZSA) or Antwerp Zoo (Belgium) as volunteers. That way they worked in the same villages and decided that sustainable development and education was absolutely necessary if you want to do something for conservation of the rainforest.

The people are living far below the poverty line. They exist by that forest and what it offers them. Today they eat a few fish and if they caught nothing they chew the manioc or sweet potatoes to alleviate hunger. They are totally unaware of the natural wealth around them. For a little bit of agriculture they burn pieces of forest to have a piece of land to plant their crops, because people simply have to eat. In 2007 they asked us to learn beekeeping. With our projects we fight with them against poverty and we try to guide them towards a sustainable forest management. Sustainable agriculture, to use green fertilizers and a diversity of crops has shown them that one piece of land can be reused without having to burn another piece of the forest. They have small cocoa plantations. We are setting up plant nurseries for the trees that give shade and filter sunlight (because cocoa can only grow in the shade) to enrich cocoa plantations. Instead of a high tree as the moabi we use fruit trees suitable species, safou, avocado, mandarin, grapefruit, lemon. That will ultimately deliver a fruit supplement in the food chain and they can sell the excess in local markets. Also the enrich environment for bees who will help pollination.

The consequently need for food, to find a source of income that can provide the most necessary commodities such as rice, beans, salt, soap, etc. for their family, people hunt. This hunting is encouraged by a rising demand from the cities abroad to exotic meats, which often trade in protected species and the bush meat trade has become a commercial activity.

Beneficiary group
The major ethnic groups, the Bantus and the Baka Pygmies live side by side in and outside the reserve. The Bantus include the Badjoué in the North, the Nzimé in the East, the Mbulu in the West, the Fang-Nzaman in the South, and the Baka Pygmies and the Kako farmers who live mostly scattered in small settlements, mainly in the forest at some distance from the Bantu villages and roads.

Apas started with volunteers, beekeepers /farmers from six villages and is intending to train a second group of 30 beekeepers in June 2011 from these villages.

Effects
Bees produce a valued food and generate valuable income. Little land or capital is needed for beekeeping. The challenge here is to provide an alternative income source for these people. The project will develop beekeeping in the area and assist local people to increase their income through the enhancement of capacity building in skills training and inking them up to markets. It will develop field extension services and a centre for sustainable beekeeping which will train and advice in sustainable bee farming.

Until a year ago none of the children had the possibility to go to a school because there was no school in the villages and no money to send children 50km further to a school. With the profit of one beehive a mother can send one or more children to a school a whole year on. Apas created that possibility to reopen a local school. Thanks to the honey children will have a possibility to go to that school and improve their lives. Honey improves diet and is essential for traditional medicines. When markets are available, honey production and products such as candles and body creams (made from the by-products of bees) provide much needed income to supplement the lives of subsistence farmers. Bees are good pollinators and many flowering plants depend on insects, such as bees, to transfer pollen. Inadequate pollination results in low yields of uneven and small fruits. It is estimated that more than 75% of the crops in warmer countries, benefit from bee pollination.

Beekeeping will also create employment because beekeepers themselves will be implicated on work at the honey lab. The beekeepers association will also follow an extra formation so the beekeepers also can be introduced in a program for follow up and training of new beekeepers. Their expertise of the past years will be very helpful for a second group of new beekeepers.

Status

Since beginning 2007 npo apas started formations for beekeepers with 25 volunteers, farmers of six villages. Beekeeping arrived after 4 years in a phase where honey harvest is big enough to be sold. Beekeeping was not existing in that region. So consultancy was asked by a beekeeper from the Netherlands (PUM) (Dr.Geert van Eizenga, who is consulted regularly since his visit to the project in 2008) and the Cameroonian representative of APAS Romeo Toukam past the selection of Ghent University in Belgium to follow the course of ‘Beekeeping for poverty alleviation’ and came to Belgium for an intensive training in beekeeping at the laboratory of Zoo-physiology of Prof. Dr. Jacobs at the University of Gent.

Beekeepers were trained and hives were followed up. Everything had to be adapted on local circumstance. Rainforest is wet 100% humidity, has a high temperature and hives needed to be protected against the heavy rains. Step by step we adapted and modified until first result finally were achieved. Extra formations are being set up now and a close follow up made it possible they already could sell the first honey. We urgently need a place to treat and storage honey. A place for storage is available in the villages but transport to Yaoundé is absolutely necessary. Temporarily a room can be used at the project of the RZSA but we need more materials and arrange a real honey lab for the future. Harvest will increase and we need a clean place to treat honey. Small quantities can be sold locally but they need to obtain a licence to reach the local markets for selling.

Risks

Risks: the rainforest has not an entire year flowers. Bees are wild and are used to live in small populations and fly from place to place where to find flowers and food. So the goal was to let beekeepers getting used to bees and make bees more used to man. Make the environment more adapted to bees to keep them in the hives. The bees in our region are the apis mellifera adansonii.

The African honeybee has a stronger tendency to swarm, and is more willing to impose greater distances to obtain food.The speed at will migrate in response to persistent food shortages or disruptions. The intense struggle for survival of honeybees in sub-Saharan Africa is given as the reason that this species is proactive in defending the hive , and also more likely to abandon an existing hive and swarm to a more secure location. They direct more of their energies to defensive behaviors and less of their energies to honey storage. To live more in the natural cavities in the ground, between rocks and in trees.They will be more ready to stabbing and obtain a wider safety zone around the hive. The African honeybees, in their natural habitat due to rapid food shortages in rain seasons and natural competitors they are plundering their hives(Foraging behaviour of Apis mellifera adansonii : Fernand-NestorTchuenguem Fohouo,SidoniFameni Tope,Auguste Pharaon Mbianda, Jean Messiand Dorothea Bruckner-1Faculty of Science, University of Ngaounde´re, Cameroon, Laboratory of Zoology, University of Yaounde´ Cameroon,)
The most important issue is to train beekeepers to survey more closer the hives and if necessary provide food in rainy seasons.