Bee farming is an old practice among the
Bakweri people but in the past majority of the community harvested wild honey
by cutting down or burning big trees were the bees have colonized. Such
practice is harmful to the nature, environment and the bee colony.
This is so because in either cutting or burning
down the trees their habitat is been destroyed. On the other hand, the practice
led to the destruction of the colony and even the honey which they also used as
food. Most at times upon felling down of the trees, the honey hunters realize
that the honey is not ready for harvesting or better still only a small
fraction of the honey is ready for consumption.
Furthermore, the process of harvesting honey in
the wild using fire posed a lot of threat to the biodiversity because it
sometimes led to bush fire which usually take days or months before dying down.
Such situations often destroy the habitat of many animal, birds and insects
while slower animal and insect die in the process likewise a huge variety of
plant species is equally been wiped out by such fire.
It is in this regards, that community activist,
peer educators and stakeholders have taken the challenge
of educating and promoting bee farming which is more organized and controllable
and has more environmental, economic and agricultural benefit.
Bee farming is environmental friendly because
bee farmers plant flowering plants for bees to collect nectar as such
this is an indirect strategy for reforestation. Bee farmers protect trees more
than any other farmer.
If bee faming is integrated with agriculture,
then the slash and burn system were farmers burn down trees after clearing will
eventually stop. The integration will cause farmers to even plant more trees
while in situations that they may need to fell down some of the trees, it will
imply that such a case will be of necessity (probably trees that pose threat).
In this light, it is obvious that the felled trees will be
More also, bee farming is equally an encouraging
practice to farmers especially with the climate change challenges that we are
facing today. Naturally, bees help in the process of crop maturity. Most
farmers who have hives in their farm or those whose farm(s) is been visited by
bees have always share a testimony of good and quality harvest.
Economically, bee farming will also improve the
livelihood of the farmers. Honey and other byproducts are in very high demand in
local, national and international markets. Farmers can benefit from bee farming
because honey harvesting is not seasonal or conventional as it will depend on
the number of hives that a farmer has and his or her harvesting strategy.
