NAIROBI, Kenya (Thomson Reuters Foundation) — Beekeeper Ayenalem Ketema is the proud owner of three hives, which have produced enough honey for the young Ethiopian to build a house equipped with solar panels and buy farm animals.
Ketema, who lives in Jimma in southwestern Ethiopia, left school when she was 17 and has kept bees for four years.
“I have benefited a lot from using a modern beehive,” said the young farmer, now 22.
She belongs to the Boter Boro Co-operative, whose members run 50 beehives between them.
Read Also
August rain welcome, but offered limited relief
Increased precipitation in August aids farmers prior to harvest in southern prairies of Canada.
Ketema has used the profit from the 60 kilograms of honey she harvests each season to buy a dairy cow, three sheep and six goats and install a solar system in her home. Now she has bigger ambitions.
“I plan to open up a wholesale honey shop where I can sell high-quality honey in large quantities in a bigger market,” she said.
Ketema benefited from a project led by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, which launched a new program this month to provide work for 12,500 young Ethiopians in beekeeping and silkworm farming.
The Nairobi-based program and the MasterCard Foundation plan to invest $10.35 million in the five-year project, which will support out-of-school and unemployed young people between 18 and 24 with starter equipment and training.
The Young Entrepreneurs in Silk and Honey initiative will involve an additional 25,000 people in the value chain, from harvesting to processing, packaging and marketing of the two sets of products.
Ethiopia is Africa’s leading honey and beeswax producer, but honey production is largely traditional and reaches only 10 percent of the country’s potential, experts say.
The nation produces dozens of honey varieties that could be of interest for the export market, said ICIPE director general Segenet Kelemu, an Ethiopian who is a laureate of the L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science award.
“The project will help to ensure food security, promote more tree planting than tree cutting and encourage agro-forestry programs to flourish,” said Kelemu.
Bees pollinate a wide range of crops and plants, playing a key role in the provision of food and nutrition. They also pollinate forage plants, indirectly supporting milk and meat production.
The amount of annual global food production that depends on pollinators is estimated at $235 to $577 billion, which means bees must be included in plans to feed the world’s growing population, she said.
Bees require flowering trees and vegetation from which they can secure high-quality pollen and nectar all year round.
As a result, the young Ethiopian beekeepers will have to conserve trees and plant more of them while reducing the use of pesticides that harm bees, Kelemu said.
Alemayehu Konde Koira with the MasterCard Foundation in Toronto said the modern hives that will be used in the Ethiopian project can produce 20 kg of high-quality organic honey a season, compared with traditional beehives that yield six to eight kg of low-quality honey.
The MasterCard Foundation said the project would improve access to regional, national and international markets for young entrepreneurs. They will also be offered financial services so they can expand their businesses.
Centres will be set up to provide training so entrepreneurs can process and market their honey, beeswax, royal jelly and bee venom.
