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bees for babar®
Peacekeeping through beekeeping:
reducing wildlife
conflicts and increasing incomes with guardian hives.
BfB provides rotary credit to
villagers to install hives around subsistence farms near the Mole
wildlife reserve in Ghana. When elephants attempt to raid crops
they will upset trip-wired hives. The bees will drive off the elephants–
preserving both the crops and the elephants (who might otherwise
be poached by enraged farmers).
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click here for information about the Bees
for Babar Dec 3, 2010 Year End Ghana/Africa
Night Camosun College
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click here for information about the
Bees for Babar 2010 Valentine's
Eve Ghana/Africa Night |
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click here for an
article, "Bees for Babar: Peacekeeping through Beekeeping"
American Bee Journal September 2009, on the project |
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click here for a
pamphlet about the project
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In 2003, while working as a Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer,
with communities in the Damango District of Ghana, Conrad Bérubé
and his Ghanaian counterpart, Mohammed Ali Ibrahim, from Opportunitites
Industrialization Centres (OIC) International's Tamale office, took
the opportunity to visit the wildlife reserve of Mole National Park
(who have since become one of our partners).
While there we discussed with park personnel the possibility of using
bee hives as a means of excluding elephants from crop areas. When
animals such as elephants or other large herbivores disturb them,
the fierce African strains of bees defend themselves by stinging the
sensitive ears, eyes and trunks of the animals-- who learn quickly
to avoid the cultivated plots so protected. This can serve as both
a novel means of reducing conflicts between agriculture and wildlife
at park boundaries and to provide the benefits of small-scale beekeeping:
supplementation of farmers' incomes through increased productivity
derived from the bees' pollination services and the sale of honey
and wax. After several years of promoting beekeeping for its own merits
we decided to explore the idea of combining conservation with beekeeping
so in August of 2007 we formed the "bees for babar society". |
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Farms
in close proximity to wildlife reserves can suffer from crop-raiding
by elephants and other animals (left) which can induce poaching
incidents (right).
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In studies conducted in Ghana there was almost a 50% probability
that if one's farm is raided by elephants, about half of the crop
would be destroyed. Such fields can be protected by surrounding
them with "living barbed wire fences". Kenya Top Bar Hives
(KTBH's) can be placed around crops and connected with ropes. The
ropes will be hung from pegs in such a way that elephants entering
a field will push against the ropes and, with their forward progress
will overturn the hives. The disturbed bees will drive the elephants
away and the elephants will learn to avoid areas containing hives--
even those that are empty.
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Note that the ropes are wired together so that an elephant entering
on either side of a post will upset the hives on both sides of a
fence post. Rope rather than wire is preferable for the purpose
of connecting the hives because the ropes can be impregnated with
chilli pepper oil which will contribute to the repellency to wildlife
touching or chewing on it.
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Villagers of Mognori have been chosen as the first
clients with whom to implement the "bees for babar" (BfB)
project. |
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At left: Elephants can damage shea trees
, used for the edible fruit and oil it produces, and other crops
that villagers depend upon for sustenance and income.
At right: Mohammed Ali Ibrahim poses in
Mole Park with a pachyderm backdrop.
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In June of 2008 carpenters in the town of Tamale
begin to cut wood to begin construction on KTBH's that will be loaned
at cost to Mognori villagers on a rotating credit system. |
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August 20, 2008: Village leaders pitch in to unload wood
delivered in preparation for training folks there to build hives.
This approach stretches funds and fosters capacity building in
the client community to make the project more sustainable.
Our gratitude goes out to one of our partners
OIC
Tamale for assisting in the delivery. Combining visits to
Mognori with some OIC errands not only allowed Ali to get wood
for hives out to Mognori in the OIC pickup truck but also helped
to reduce green house gas emmissions-- every little bit helps
;-)
Check out Mognori at Google Earth at 9.291180°, -1.776150°
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By mid-September 2008, with the assistance
of OIC Tamale, BfB Ghana director Mohammed Ali Ibrahim had trained
Mognori villagers to construct KTBH's in preparation for the upcoming
swarm season.
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The villagers put up one third of the value
of the lumber and receive the remainder of the lumber on credit
from a rotary credit micro-financing venture. When they repay the
loan following the sale of honey and beeswax harvested from the
hives the money will go back into the fund and be available for
another round of clients.
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In October of 2008 the completed hives were rubbed
down with lemon grass and/or beeswax to attract passing swarms.
Handles were added to facilitate transporting and hanging the hives.
Roofs of corrogated zinc keep out the torrential rains of the rainy
season and help deflect the pounding sun during hot weather assisting
the bees in keeping the hive cool. In tropical Africa, as in most
hot climates, it is advantageous to keep hives in an area where
they will receive shade during the warmest times of day. That way
the bees will not have to spend too much effort bringing in water
and fanning to keep the hives cool.
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| Hives were hung in the kinds of trees on which elephants
most like to feed or those most valued by farmers such as shea nut
trees. To be effective the hives must also placed at the points that
elephants are most likely to use as entry-ways onto cropped areas
so that the passing of the elephants triggers the bees' defensive
behaviour. Care must be taken that the villagers do not stake out
their goats or cows near the hives as animals restrained in this manner
so as not to damage crops can easily be killed if they disturb the
bees since they will not be able to escape. |
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| Villagers from Mognori pose near the boundary of
Mole Park (the sign has been enlarged in the inset). Unfortunately
for subsistence farmers elephants do not always stay on their side
of the boundary. "Guardian bee hives" will help to keep
wandering elephants from raiding the crops necessary to feed villagers'
families-and will provide nutritious honey and useful beeswax which
can be utilized by the producers or sold to buy necessities. |
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Damaged jerry cans can be reconditioned
to serve as swarm traps or small hives with a little modification
and the addition of top-bars. BfB may be experimenting with this
client-designed innovation.
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| Where available, bamboo canes can
be used to make top-bars for the KTBH, further reducing the cost of
a hive which is already the most affordable movable-frame hive. The
hive was developed in the 1970's from traditional African hive designs
that utilized bark, hollowed logs or basketry. Click here for complete
KTBH plans or see Appendix
B of Small Scale Beekeeping. |
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Rural beekeepers can produce high quality
honey using low cost KTBH's which can be used at home or sold to
make a significant contribution to the family's income.
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The word "babar", in the Gonja language
of the Northern Region of Ghana, where the project has been initiated,
means "come to my aid". In addition, it is also Turkish
for lion. Lions have long held an odd and almost mystical association
with honeybees (see "The Bee-Riddled
Carcass"). We allude to these associations to title a project
to promote conservation, eco-tourism and beekeeping as an income-generating
activity in developing countries:
bees for babar®
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In August 2007 a small group of American, Canadian
and Ghanaian friends incorporated "bees for babar" (BfB)
as a registered non-profit society in British Columbia to assist
subsistence farmers who have suffered crop losses caused by wildlife,
particularly elephants. To achieve this, BfB intends to provide
beehives and beekeeping training for farmers whose cultivated plots
are on land adjoining wildlife reserves in Ghana.
This project will principally benefit subsistence
farmers whose cultivated plots are on land surrounding wildlife
reserves such as Mole Park in Ghana.
Funds raised by the "bees for babar"
society are used to provide apicultural training and to purchase
materials for the construction of hives and beekeeping equipment
as a means of discouraging wildlife from raiding farmers' crop as
well as to provide supplemental income from increased pollination
of crops and the sale of honey and wax.
Thanks!
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