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Conrad Bérubé |
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| Farmserve Africa Farmer to Farmer volunteer report Higher incomes for beekeepers through the
Trip dates September 15, 2002 to October
16, 2002 Conrad Bérubé |
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I have the honor of serving as the first farmer-to-farmer (FtF) volunteer for Ghana in the farm serve Africa program. the host agency, opportunities industrialization centre of Tamale (oict) is a non-governmental organization (ngo) that, amongst other programs, administers an integrated program for food security. the program provides technical assistance in production, processing, post-harvest loss reduction, micro-credit/micro enterprise development and water and sanitation training. the beekeeping project involves aspects of production and processing improvement in the context of a micro-credit/micro-enterprise financing framework. the project serves women's cooperatives in 23 communities surrounding the city of Tamale in the northern region of Ghana. Hives have been distributed to and apiaries have been established in all communities. about half of the communities have participated for two years in the project; the other half having participated only during the past year.
Although client groups participating in the beekeeping project have received some training, the clients exhibited a minimal level of beekeeping skills and management practices. in light of this, I determined that the focus of training activities should be to convey simple techniques that would make the clients better "bee-havers" as a stepping-stone to becoming good beekeepers. field visits were made to all 23 communities and, in all, 150 women and 27 men received on-site training in appropriate apiary siting, proper apiary arrangement, and hive conditioning. following site visits, an intensive 5-day training program was conducted at the OICT training center that expanded upon the basic themes identified during field visits. 22 client women, 2 men representing client communities, 2 PCF's, 1 local beekeeper contracted by OICT for technical and translation services, and 1 Peace Corps volunteer participated throughout the training. in addition, most remaining of the remaining PCF’s and support and supervisory staff from OICT participated as their schedules or interest allowed.
Follow-up activities should include monitoring of techniques transferred to clients and to collect additional baseline data on monthly nectar and pollen availability. in addition, it would be useful to encourage the coop members to initiate some quality assurance protocols to maintain high standards in honey and other products yielded by the project. lastly, I believe it would be beneficial to encourage greater integration/cooperation amongst development agencies who are involved in beekeeping projects.
Background
The intent of the project is concisely summarized in the name: "higher incomes for beekeepers through the application of improved honey production techniques". (initially there had been hope that there might be some opportunity to work on a project to reduce crop losses in maize due to the infestation of a parasitic weed, Striga hermonthica, but time did not permit anymore than the most cursory of efforts.) the objectives of my visit were to:
- Assess the current beekeeping skills level of clients and polycovalent community facilitators (PCF's). (the PCF's are OICT extentionists trained to deliver core technical support across a variety of disciplines essential to improving standards-of-living.)
- Identify appropriate targets for technical advancement as prerequisite to the delivery of training to clients and PCF's;
- Facilitate the building, in the client group, of the capacity to complete the overall project objectives by providing to both clients and PCF's;
- Supervision/guidance in selection, establishment, and management of appropriate apiary sites;
- Training in harvesting, extraction and packaging techniques;
- Resource and training materials.
Although it was not honey harvest season during my visit,training exercises to remove wild nests at the training center provided the opportunity to practice comb transfer and improved honey processing techniques. Training materials developed and delivered to OICT included newsprint flipchart, mini-flipchart presentations and small scale beekeeping, a complete "how-to" manual by Curtis Gentry published by the u.s. Peace Corps Activities and results
Given the short duration of farmer-to-farmer exchanges it is essential for the FtF volunteer to concentrate efforts on "training the trainers". fortunately, for my own experience, OICT had contracted Mohammed Ali (in his words, “the beekeeper not the boxer”), a local honey producer to assist with translation and technical support during my stay. it is hoped that mr. Ali will continue to serve as a technical resource to the client communities during those portions of the year (particularly swarm season and harvesting) when such guidance in the communities is most needed. in addition, the 14-member cadre of OICT PCF extensionists is very competent and well trained in their respective areas. because of their familiarity with a formal education system much background material ("book learning") can be conveyed through technical literature. as regards appropriate reference materials, an excellent resource already exists in the form of Small scale beekeeping (c. Gentry. 1982. Peace Corps, office of information collection and exchange, washington, dc). a copy of this manual was delivered to the OICT office upon my arrival and was reproduced for each of the PCF's along with a set of self study questions (see Beekeeping-appendix_b_self_study_questions.htm). in addition, sets of laminated hand-held “flipcharts” for use with non-reading audiences were produced and delivered to the OICT office (and used during my field and training sessions) that covered basic bee biology, equipment, and natural enemies (see Beekeeping-appendix_4_drawings.htm and Beekeeping-appendix_d_photos.htm). (a similar set of flip-chart illustrations was provided regarding striga control-- see Striga-appendix_a_script.htm, Striga-appendix_b-mini-flipcharts_drawings.htm and Striga-appendix_c-mini-flipcharts_photos.htm.) it is expected that any of the PCF’s who peruse the technical materials given to each of them will be able to address clients’ technical questions regarding basic beekeeping. however, it is usually not worthwhile to attempt to make beekeepers out of people who are intensely averse to being stung. thus, it was expected that many of the PCF’s would not actively participate in hands-on training with bees and subsequent beekeeping extension—and this proved to be the case; only two PCF’s participated in actually handling bees during training sessions. better results were obtained with in-village development workers, the community beekeeping technicians (CBT’s), two of whom had been identified amongst each of the 23 beekeeping communities; one CBT from each village participated in a five day intensive training held at the OICT training center following field visits to each village. in total, field visits to village apiaries were attended by approximately 150 women and 27 men.
In addition, contact was made with the local Peace Corps volunteers (PCV’s) and their coordinator, susan “rose” rosalee (first road, kalpohini estates, gumani, phone: 011-233-71-22016). in the hopes that beekeeping development work could be synergized, an invitation was made for PCV’s to attend the training short-course. as a result the coordinator and a PCV assisted in one training session and PCV suzy corbin attended the majority of the sessions. it is hoped that this may lead to further involvement by PCV’s in apicultural development. attempts were made to contact other development agencies such as canadian university services overseas (cuso) volunteers and dagbani literacy workers but, due to workloads, these attempts did not result in collaboration at this point.
At a number of apiaries, hives were too close together or not suitably arranged for the local defensive strain of bee and rearrangements were suggested and carried out during field visits. In some locations co-op members had protected hives from attack by ants and termites by using the sticky, oily residue left over from "shea nut butter" processing-a good tactic and one that was promoted at other sites. Note the clay vessel nearby to provide water to the bees. After hives were cleaned of any non-bee tenants they were "baited" with lemon grass and/or beeswax which attract scout bees looking for a new home for swarms. Mr. Ali and I made field visits over the course of two-and-a-half weeks to all 23 communities involved in the beekeeping project in order to assess current skill levels and to gather baseline data on management practices, annual income from bee products, current uses and quality of honey, and cultural aspects associated with bees and beekeeping , such as folklore or taboos (appendix 1 contains a questionnaire used to assist in gathering baseline data and appendix 2 contains a synopsis of survey results; see Beekeeping-appendix_a_baseline_data_survey.htm and Beekeeping-appendix_e_survey_results.htm). During the field visits attendees were encouraged to revise all of their empty hives to ensure organisms other than bees had not occupied them and to recondition such boxes with lemon grass and beeswax. (lemon grass contains the chemical, citral, which is the most attractive component of the pheromone that bees use to mark their nest entrances and beeswax further enhances the attraction-- i.e. Makes a hive smell like home.) in addition to the cut stalks of lemon grass used for rubbing down the hives, rootstock was also provided to participants for planting around their farms or compounds for future use. when required, haphazardly arranged apiaries were restructured to minimize risks of mass disturbances. hives were repositioned to increase distance between hives to at least 1.5 meters and were arranged, if possible, into a circle with entrances facing outwards in order to create a relatively safe zone within the circle. where ants were a problem (virtually all apiaries) it was recommended that hives be hung. whether on stands or hung, it was suggested that the legs of the hive-stand or ropes be treated with grease, shay butter residue or sheep's wool. as the opportunity arose a number of other recommendations were made and deficiencies were noted. These points were used to develop the schedule for a 5-day intensive training short-course held at OICT's training centre in kumbungu, about 17 km northwest of Tamale (see Striga-june2003_FtF_trip_report.htm).
the training center has dormitory facilities that allowed for nighttime manipulations of bees. ambient temperatures in Ghana are cooler at night—making hive manipulations less disruptive to the bees and thus more comfortable for beekeepers. the likelihood, duration and intensity of honeybee workers’ response to their nest-mates’ alarm pheromone increases with increasing temperatures. in addition, bees do not fly in the dark (although they will fly towards lights being used to illuminate the work area) thus limiting the stinging risk to bystanders. if hive manipulations are performed in early evening, nest defense reactions will generally have returned to normal by morning-- reducing the need to avoid the hive area for prolonged periods. because of Ghana’s location just north of the equator (Tamale sits at about 9 degrees, 25 seconds n) nightfall occurs fairly close to 6:00 pm throughout the year. hive manipulations are most required during the spring and summer. in areas at greater latitudes the hour of spring and summer nightfall is later in the day-- when farmers are generally fatigued and ready to retire for the day; the equatorial circadian cycle in Ghana makes it far easier to work nighttime bee-work into a daily routine and is consistent with traditional honey-tapping techniques. continued technical assistance should emphasize the importance of working bees at night.
Heavy colony manipulations, such as the removal of a wild nest from the eaves of one of the buildings at the training center are best done at night when bees do not fly to any great degree and thus the risk of stings is greatly reduced. Encouraged by their success in the harvest participants performed an impromptu victory dance. Sanatu mahamah, fishata issah, and wumbei napari sing and clap as part of the accapela chorus
The current level of bee-skills exhibited by OICT clients characterizes them as bee-havers; they have acquired hives that allow them to harvest colonies with a fair amount of ease but conduct no significant amount of management. during harvesting the brood nest remains relatively intact and the colony can be preserved from one season to the next. in contrast to traditional nest robbing that destroys the colony, the means of production, bee-havers can eat their honey and hive it too. nonetheless, bee-having can be conducted more efficiently than was observed during site visits. clients should regularly inspect their empty hives to ensure that pests have not usurped the KTBH's. after cleaning, hives should be "baited" (rubbed with beeswax and lemon grass) to simulate nest odors and attract bees. in this way the number of occupied colonies can be maximized. honey, pollen or other foods perceived as attractive to bees should not be used in empty hives as ants, in such a case, are much more likely to find and occupy hives before bees do and bees will not move into a hive already occupied by ants. these techniques were discussed with the clients during site visits and/or during training. in fact, several communities reported that the reconditioning of hives during site visits had resulted in a significant increase in hive occupation (see Beekeeping-appendix_2_part1.htm) . likewise, harvesting must be conducted in a manner that allows for maintenance of colonies once they have been obtained. novice bee-havers (and even beekeepers) often remove too much honey from hives and do not leave the colony sufficient stores to support them through periods of minimal nectar availability. to better provide for the bees’ needs during dearth periods it was suggested that comb only be harvested from one end of the hives (to establish a standard it was suggested that this always be the right side, as one is facing the entrance of the hive).
A good honey flow is dependent upon an abundance of nectar-bearing plants, good weather that favors nectar production and bee-flights, and a large population of foragers that peaks concurrently with the peak nectar flow- brought about through good hive management. The essence of true beekeeping is management of the brood nest in concert with anticipated changes in resource availability. In this way the beekeeper can modify the colony's population to peak to coincide with periods of greatest nectar flow or to shrink down to a level that is more easily supported by diminishing floral resources. This level of management is well beyond the level of skill currently held by the women in the cooperatives. Like reading, the skills necessary for this kind of management cannot be conveyed in a mere matter of days-- although, like the alphabet, the basic framework can be laid relatively quickly. Further development is a matter of individual practice.
Trainees participate in hiving a swarm at the training center-an exercise that built their confidence about working with bees.
Specific training objectives that were completed can be found in appendix 3. with regards to transferring technical skills, one of the major stumbling blocks in the progression along the road to beekeeping is overcoming one's fear of bees (while maintaining a healthy respect for them). I believe that the greatest gain made during the training program was that it provided opportunities that allowed the clients to gain confidence in their ability to deal with the risks inherent in working with defensive strains of bees while being able to complete the tasks that will make them better bee-havers. as their confidence and experience increase they will be able to proceed along the course to actual beekeeping if they so choose. however, it is important to remember that the program goals revolve around creating income and not around creating beekeepers. given the burden of labor that already falls on village women it is a perfectly acceptable outcome to create good bee-havers as opposed to beekeepers-- and the economic targets “100 women beekeepers increase their incomes by 50% through sales of quality honey” (see farmserve Africa project design, form b) are still achievable in that context.
Follow-up
Future efforts in the beekeeping project should ascertain if clients do, in fact, put into practice the techniques conveyed during this round of training. the direction of continued training efforts, or whether such training is worthwhile at all, should be contingent upon heretofore recommended techniques actually being adopted. in addition, the monthly nectar and pollen flows for each community should be determined and documented with a view towards generating a beekeeping calendar to assist in scheduling management activities. monitoring should be conducted to ensure that sufficient stores are left during harvesting to provide for the colonies' needs during dearth periods. as productivity increases protocols should be developed to ensure that the quality of bee products offered on the market remains high in order to maintain the premium prices being paid for the clients’ products as compared to traditionally prepared products.
Integration of OICT's beekeeping project with other development work, such as that of Peace Corps, could have synergistic results. Beekeeping fits well into integrated development programs as it is compatible with agroforestry, can create spin-off micro-enterprises such as batik dyeing or lost-wax metal casting and provides useful lessons in school agricultural or environmental science programs. Finally, it would be useful to encourage greater cooperation between developmental organizations working in beekeeping or with related projects in the client communities. as an example of this, Peace Corps volunteers working in the area were invited to attend training sessions; 3 Peace Corps representatives participated in one session-- in which their assistance was appreciated-- and one of them stayed to attend the remainder of the training. a Peace Corps volunteer working in the same community as that in which a women's cooperative had established an apiary could assist the project in a number of ways-- a volunteer working in the environment program could promote beekeeping as a component of agroforestry, an integrated sciences program could educate students about the role of pollination in agricultural production (and hence the need to exercise measures to protect bees from pesticides, an art teacher could elaborate on techniques using beeswax for batik ("tie-and-dye") dyeing or for lost-wax meal casting. in any case, such activities would assist in promoting the project and to educate the community about the value of beekeeping and bees firming up public relations and possibly opening up local markets for bee products. similar rationale could be made for other development agencies and for other programs. a simple means of implementing cross-agency integration would be to circulate an electronic newsletter to agencies working in the Tamale area once every two weeks or month. such a newsletter could indicate what project activities were planned in which communities and invite collaboration. in this way duplication of effort could be minimized and resources could therefore be stretched further.
Comments:
My Ghanaian hosts made me feel very welcome and comfortable, especially Carla Denisard in Accra and Dr. John Azu in Tamale who invited me to their homes (i spent virtually my whole stay in Ghana in Dr. Azu's place) which allowed me to concentrate more fully on the technical tasks at hand. If the need, opportunity and rules of the farmer-to-farmer program allow I would certainly enjoy returning to Ghana to work on the striga project or to follow-up on the beekeeping program.
The local strain of bee in Ghana, Apis mellifera adonsonii, is more defensive than races of bees commonly used in europe and north america but is well-adapted to the tropical conditions in which it has evolved. here worker bees are shown tending a comb of packed pollen or bee-bread. the comb itself is constructed from wax that forms as small scales on glands on the undersides of the workers’ abdomens.
For more information on the farmer-to-farmer program write to
Farmserve Africa Program
OIC International
240 West Tulpehocken Street
Philadelphia, PA 19144For more information on the Peace Corps visit the following website:
or write to:
Peace Corps
806 Connecticut Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20526Or call (toll-free): 800-484-8580 or look up the local recruiting office under the government listings in your telephone directory.
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