Women thrive in bee-keeping

Mercy Ngwebvu
TRADITIONALLY, bee-keeping, is both labour- intensive and dangerous. By using hollowed out logs to attract bees, a farmer could spend hours trying to get a good hive.

In the past harvesting wild honey excluded women, and created a fear of handling bees within the community. Lately however, tables have turned and women are now doing the job such that the number of successful bee keeping stories amongst women is increasing by the day.

Simply described, bee keeping is the maintenance of honey bee colonies, commonly in hives for the purposes of collecting their honey and other products that the hive produces (beeswax, propolis, pollen, and royal jelly), pollinating crops, or producing bees for sale to other bee keepers.

Manica Post Correspondent Mercy Ngwebvu (MN) caught up with the brains behind the vibrant Mutare Divine bee keeping co-operative, Willet Mtisi (WM), and interviewed her on how the woman- led group is steadily becoming highly lucrative.

MN: When did you start this bee keeping project and what inspired you?

WM: I started bee keeping in 2011 and it was mainly because I have always loved the challenge which is involved in bee keeping. I enjoy doing the impossible. Most people think bee keeping should be done by men but I am here to prove that perception wrong as well as break the barrier and usher more women into the field of bee keeping. I started the project with Memory Mavhatu, a friend of mine who is currently the chairlady of the cooperative.

MN: Did you get any training in bee keeping?

WM: Of course! I attended a three-day workshop on bee keeping which was organised by Environment Africa at Chasiyamu primary school near Hot Springs and the workshop equipped me with the necessary information and skills of the trade. After the training we then formed the cooperative.

MN: So where is your co-operative based and how many of you are there?

WM: We are based in the Tribury area in Chimanimani and we are a group of ten people, seven of whom are women.

MN: I see your group is dominated by women. Is that a deliberate move?

WM: Yes. Most women shy away from bee keeping because they borrow fear from other people’s failed experiences. Just because someone’s bee keeping project flopped at one point in time does not mean that yours will fail too. We are trying to incorporate as many women as possible to empower them and prove to them that they can be successful bee keepers who can challenge men.

MN: How many hives do you have as a cooperative and how much honey do you produce?

WM: We have a total of 50 beehives and each hive produces about 25kgs of raw honey which usually equates to 20kg when processed.

MN: How much do you sell the honey for?

WM: Processed honey goes for $3 per kg and we sell unprocessed honey for$2.50 per kg.

MN: To whom do you supply this honey?

WM: We have been working with TM supermarket for quite some time now. We are also working hard to increase our market linkages so as to generate more income.

MN: What challenges have you faced so far in your bee keeping endeavours?

WM: We need original protective clothing because you can rest assured a bee sting is not something anyone can easily get accustomed to. Another challenge is that we now have people who are in the habit of selling fake honey and this is disheartening considering the hard work involved in producing honey.

Sometimes asthmatic people approach these swindlers in a bid to get help for their ailment only to be cheated. The fake honey consists of lemon, brown sugar and a little amount of real honey. People are being robbed in broad daylight and I really wish the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe would do something about this situation.

MN: Any petitions in as far as your bee keeping projects are concerned?

WM: My biggest petition is for the Ministry of Agriculture to train more people; especially women in bee keeping. This will ensure perfection of skill, which will ensure quality. Quality will then meet the need; thereby facilitating profitability. There is also a dire need for queen breeding, instead of waiting for the natural colonisation of beehives by bees. This is so because we have cases of people who have had over twenty or more empty hives. However if people are trained in queen breeding, then natural colonisation will only be used to complement queen breeding. Queen breeding will thus ensure the achievement of the 500litre per annum target which is set to be achieved by 2018 as per the Zim-Asset blueprint.

Despite being a way of diversifying livelihoods through income generation and contributing towards food security, bee keeping is quite a noble way of combating climate change and its adverse effects.

Insects are the earth’s chief pollinators and most crops which provide global food security are bee-pollinated, thus increasing local bee populations, which in the long run shall curb environmental degradation, and see a decrease in the rate at which global warming is occurring.