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Partners
Beekeeping
The pilot phase of the project commenced on the 12th November 2007 when two hunters began their beekeeper training with MEBEEC. A thorough evaluation of the pilot and an investigative review of the local honey market was conducted during April and May 2008. The full project will be launched once adequate financial backing has been secured.
Four rural communities in the Lebialem Highlands will be involved in the project initially. Apiaries will be established in each community so that training can take place within the trainees’ environment. Groups of hunters selected from each village will be supplied with the necessary equipment and trained simultaneously for 12 days over a six month period. Each participant will repay their equipment and training costs by supplying the project with a proportion of the honey they harvest over the first two years. Revenue from the sale of honey supplied by participants will go back to that individual’s community to provide other hunters with equipment and training.
This scheme will be incorporated into the Environment Micro Finance and Enterprise Development Program (EMEDP) controlled by ERuDeF. Selected individuals on completion of the training programme will undergo further training to become certified beekeeper trainers who can coordinate training operations within their communities.
Learn more >
Four rural communities in the Lebialem Highlands will be involved in the project initially. Apiaries will be established in each community so that training can take place within the trainees’ environment. Groups of hunters selected from each village will be supplied with the necessary equipment and trained simultaneously for 12 days over a six month period. Each participant will repay their equipment and training costs by supplying the project with a proportion of the honey they harvest over the first two years. Revenue from the sale of honey supplied by participants will go back to that individual’s community to provide other hunters with equipment and training.
This scheme will be incorporated into the Environment Micro Finance and Enterprise Development Program (EMEDP) controlled by ERuDeF. Selected individuals on completion of the training programme will undergo further training to become certified beekeeper trainers who can coordinate training operations within their communities.
Learn more >
The project will initially be legally established in Cameroon as a non-profit ‘association’ and the groups trained in each community will be legalised as Common Initiative Groups (CIGs). However, once a reasonable number of beekeepers have been trained, a cooperative will be formed in which members are democratically elected to different roles in order to deal with quality control, processing, distribution, marketing and further training.
The beekeepers will sell their honey and beeswax through the cooperative to obtain
a higher price and establish a recognised brand within the Cameroonian economy.
The beekeepers will be encouraged to
form small groups and open group savings accounts within ERuDeF’s Community Fund. This money can be used to increase the group’s number of hives directly or can
be used as a deposit for a micro-loan to purchase additional equipment.
Research will form a central element of the project during the first three years. Economic data will be collected from each participant to compare the costs incurred and the revenue obtained from both hunting and beekeeping. Regular standard of living assessments will also be made to quantify the poverty alleviation benefits of beekeeping.