Our groups
During the project, we work closely with six beekeeper groups in de Morogoro region. These groups will feel the first impact of our project. Therefor, we wnt to talk about them on this page: we show you a brief introduction of each group and their motivation and incentive to participate in the project.
Mzumbe
With its five members, the Mzumbe team is the smallest beekeeping group with whom we will be working with. As a farmer, Tony, the leader of the group , saw interesting possibilities in the combination of agriculture and beekeeping. Furthermore, the group consists of two brickmakers, a PhD student and a bachelor student who is saving up for his masters. Tony and his companions are situated in Morogoro, close to the Mzumbe University, where we will be staying most of our time.
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Last year, the group already had some hives, but they were stacked in a dangerous way. Due to a lack of space, they had built towers up to four hives high, which meant that each honey harvest became a dangerous undertaking. With the support of the AFD team of last year, they invested in a new apiary (kind of a beehive stable). Herein, all hives can be placed in an orderly manner, where they are also protected against the bright Tanzanian sun and heavy rain showers.
This year we will focus on the expansion of the bee colonies and an efficient processing of the honey.
Peko
"Mutualism, the confluence of two parties where both find advantages." With this definition, you could perfectly describe our Peko-Beekeeping-group! Mutualism both between men and women in the African community, as between beekeeping, agriculture and forestry. The group consists of nine men and nine women working together on the various activities offered by beekeeping.
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Peko first started as a farming community, but displeased by the velocity of which the forests were getting destroyed across Africa, they decided to shift their focus to beekeeping. Since bees are the earth’s most effective pollinator of plants and trees, they actively contribute to the conservation of the Tanzanian environment. Moreover, keeping bees in isolated and remote woods scares away illegal loggers. Finally, the honey production offers an additional source of income and all their agricultural crops enjoy an increased fructification .... sound like a win-win-win situation!
Kilimanjaro
As you can see on the map, our Kilimanjaro group is actually not at all located near the highest mountain of Africa. Why they got this name, is still a mystery to us! The group consists of eight men from 18 to 22 years, accompanied by four women. All very acitve, fresh and entrepreneurial.
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Kilimanjaro started as a group of recently graduated friends who realized they had to change something about their current situation in order to create favorable economic prospects! Joseph, the current leader, did not sit still and called his comrades. With the support of four women from the village, the idea to start beekeeping was born, becoming a new economic actor that would bypass the current financial uncertainties. They could connect local industries such as carpenters for hives and seamstresses for beekeeper suits with the local market for honey and wax products. By these means they will improve the local circular economy!
The 29 mostly female Kwelikweje beekeepers are located in the mountains and are completely surrounded by forests and cacao fields. Due to this remote location they are very difficult to reach and the few roads that still do allow connection with the outside world are often steep and bumpy. Hereby, the transport of e.g. new hives is risky and dangerous, with no garanty that the hives will arrive safe and sound. Therefore, in addition to producing quality honey, the focus is also in the proper and safe supply of material to the group. One solution is to let the parts of the hives be made by the carpenters in the lower village and to provide it to Kwelikweje located higher in the mountains in the form of a ready-to-assemble kit. You could compare it to an Ikea closet, all components can be transported in a compact manner and this closet (read hive) can later on be assembled on site. For this, a clear construction plan for the carpenters and an easy to follow assembly plan for the beekeepers should be made... an ideal job for our two civil engineers!
Kwelikweje
Turiani
Just like Peko, the Turiani group focuses on environmental conservation and an increased crop pollination by beekeeping. The entire community involved in beekeeping consists of not less than 34 people! Given the large size of this group, it is of crucial importance that the communication within the group and between the group and the BeeTogether team is on point.
Did you know that Swahili is the national language of Tanzania, Kenya and Congo? To reduce the linguistic barrier between our team and the local beekeepers, we have immersed ourselves in a basic Swahili course ... Kubwa, Lakini Mengi kujifunza ya! (Super cool, but we still have a lot to learn!)
Mvomero
Mvomero consists of 15 hard working people, aiming to improve the position of women. Beekeeping, with all its additional activities, offers a lot of extra employment for the entire community and can perfectly be used to reduce the gender gap between men and women. Activities like maintaining the hives, harvesting honey and wax, processing these raw materials for candles and honey sweets can only succeed when a good cooperation exists between young and old, male and female, experienced and inexperienced. Given this mindset, Mvomero is completely ready to push their beekeeping activities to the next level, ensuring an active involvement of the entire community!