ETIapiA

training program for Ethiopian beekeepers

Project description

The direct and immediate beneficiary of the project is the community of Capuchin friars of the Franciscan Province of Ethiopia. Twenty-one of their territorial communities across the Horn of Africa country are involved. The training provided by the project to these friars serves as a preparatory step for the subsequent training the religious will deliver to civil communities where they carry out their social and pastoral activities.

Transitioning from traditional beekeeping to modern beekeeping is an essential step towards modernizing methods and improving both the quantity and quality of honey production, aiming to enhance the nutritional conditions of the involved populations while also generating income.

Finally, due to increasing environmental desertification caused by decreasing rainfall, the project has identified a supportive strategy involving the planting of melliferous (honey-producing) flora in collaboration with beekeeping activities.

Goals achieved

During the first year of activity, the project focused on:

1. Training the friars—initially from six communities—selected by the project to develop adequate skills for improved beekeeping practices, moving away from traditional methods which limit both quantity and quality of honey due to residual honey loss in containers and easy contamination during harvesting and storage.

2. Teaching the autonomous production of beehives, including their internal organization using frames, to facilitate hive management and improve bee productivity.

3. Planting melliferous plants and flowers.

Goals to be achieved

Expand the initial intervention to the remaining Capuchin communities

Shifting their beekeeping practices from traditional to innovative and modern methods; implement the floricultural planting plan to support bee populations;

Upgrade honey harvesting using centrifuges, and improve storage and local marketing, eventually expanding to national and international markets.