RIPPLE Africa runs a beekeeping project in Malawi, Africa. RIPPLE Africa’s beekeeping project has two main aims:
RIPPLE Africa’s beekeeping project runs on a micro-loan basis. A group of people can choose to form a Beekeeping Club, and RIPPLE Africa provides the money, equipment, and training to set up 10 beehives. Each beehive is suspended between trees in the forest and, once bees are initially attracted to the hive using beeswax, the hive can be left with little upkeep. It takes one year before each hive is producing commercial amounts of honey; however, thereafter honey can be harvested twice a year and can be sold to generate a good additional income for each community member. Once the beehives are commercially viable, the micro-loan from RIPPLE Africa will be paid back over a two-year period, and the money will then be re-invested.
RIPPLE Africa’s beekeeping project provides a strong incentive for people to protect the forests. In Malawi, deforestation is rampant, and destructive environmental practice such as bush-burning is commonplace. (To read more about deforestation in Malawi, read the General Information About the Environment in Malawi page.) Many people in Malawi see little value in the natural forest and would prefer to cut the trees down for firewood or farming. However, beekeeping needs healthy forests to attract bees. The message is simple: “No trees, no bees, no honey, no money.” People are naturally protective of their investment, and thus defend their hives and the surrounding environment against deforestation, bush-fires, and farmers encroaching on the forests.
RIPPLE Africa’s beekeeping project also provides an essential income. Most people in Malawi are subsistence farmers and have little income. Beekeeping is an ideal income supplement, as it takes very little work compared to the hard labour of farming, and gives farmers something competitive they can sell. One of RIPPLE Africa’s beekeepers told us that, through the extra income he received from selling honey, he was able to take in his nieces and nephews who had been orphaned, and to send his own children to secondary school. Any project which helps people to help themselves is at the heart of what RIPPLE Africa is all about, which is why beekeeping is important to us.
RIPPLE Africa would like to set up beekeeping projects in Malawi for 100 community groups. Your donation helps the environment and will provide an essential income to some of Malawi’s poorest people.
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