Training Day
Creating small business opportunities for people in remote rural communities is all part of the promise of Musanya’s sustainable beekeeping project.
It’s been a long Winter in the Miombo Woodlands, but Musanya’s team on the ground in Zambia’s North-Western province has been remarkably busy. The Sub-tropical region through which this savannah forest winds produces two flows of honey each year. There is an abundant harvest in Summer, and a more limited but quality flow in our Winter which runs through July and August.
Although it produced some wonderful honey, this year’s Winter harvest was nothing to write home about. As we expected with so many of Musanya’s 10,000 hives only recently set, some were only recently occupied while others did not get the benefit of a full season among the flowering trees.
As it turned out though, a limited harvest was exactly what our operations team in the region needed. Chief Operations Officer Clinton Burls has been champing at the bit, wanting to start training teams of honey harvesters. A harvest with low volumes of honey but with plenty of bees and hive visits available was perfect.
Working with his regional supervisors, he set up the initial lectures on processes and equipment. Candidates for training are put forward by the community beekeepers in each region where we are active. We look for people with previous beekeeping experience, many of our teams include individuals with backgrounds in traditional bark hive husbandry.
Selection for harvester training means small business opportunities for the team members. They are paid a percentage of the value of the honey they harvest in return for their services. Harvesters also become advisors in matters of apiculture to the small-scale beekeepers in their communities
Harvester teams are organized in groups of two or three people. Their equipment includes the beekeeping gear like suit, smoker, brushes and buckets. In this region it also includes a long pole with a setting hook and a rope to lower or reset the hive.
Musanya is also working to equip every team with a bicycle, as very often that is the only wheeled transport that can penetrate this pristine wilderness. Bicycles can be a blessing for anyone carrying a couple of 20kg buckets of honey out of the bush.
Once the lecture phase was done, the supervisors were able to get teams out into the field and visit hives. It was the new havesters’ first opportunity to don bee suits and get up close with the region’s busy little bees.
Approximately 15 harvesters were trained in the Mufumbwe District, while a further 10 received their ‘wings’ in Kasempa. Training was still ongoing in the Kakoma District at the time of publishing.
Their first task was to take a long walk among the trees identifying various sites. While approaching, teams are alert to the sound of bees as their first task is to determine whether a target hive is in fact occupied.
Occupied hives are hooked using a long pole with a ‘setting hook’ attached, then attached to a rope for lowering. As confidence and experience builds, harvesters will be able to tell from the weight of the hive being lowered whether or not they’ve struck gold. Our specially designed top bar hives can produce as much as 20 kg of raw honey in a season.
On some of the site visits, inexperience teams would send one of the younger members shinning up the tree to hook the rope. Sometimes it’s the only way. However, with enough practice and experience the long pole will save a lot of breathless climbing and prevent a nasty fall or two.
Occupied hives are hooked using a long pole with a ‘setting hook’ attached, then attached to a rope for lowering. As confidence and experience builds, harvesters will be able to tell from the weight of the hive being lowered whether or not they’ve struck gold. Our specially designed top bar hives can produce as much as 20 kg of raw honey in a season.
On some of the site visits, inexperience teams would send one of the younger members shinning up the tree to hook the rope. Sometimes it’s the only way. However, with enough practice and experience the long pole will save a lot of breathless climbing and prevent a nasty fall or two.
With the hive lowered, the team carefully removes the weather-proof lid which protects the hives from the ravages of heavy sub-tropical rains. The hives are also suspended to protect them from most predators.
Our bees, the scutellata – or East African Lowland honey-bee – form their honeycomb on the underside of ‘bars’ of wood set across the top of the hive. Access to the honey is very simple. Harvesters simply lift the bars and cut away the part of the comb that is required.
This process is quick and easy and does not in any way damage the hive or harm the bees. They’ll get a squirt of smoke to keep them calm, but our training focuses on minimizing the amount of smoke used.
Central African honey has, due to some dated traditional practices, developed a reputation for being ‘smokey’. A tendency to ‘over-smoke’ as a protective shield in the absence of modern protective clothing and gear can in some instances taint honey. The Musanya teams are equipped with proper equipment and trained from the start to treat bees with kid gloves and as little smoke as possible.
Once the hive has been inspected, and the honey we need has been removed, the bars are reset, the lid replaced and the hive is hoisted back into position. On our courses, the Musanya supervisors make sure each trainee tackles each of the tasks they will need to understand and perfect. There is also constant chatter and discussion about the art of beekeeping. The teams learn from each other and swap experiences and stories, as they will in turn become advisors to the small-scale bee farmers in the area.
The simple understanding of how and why the hives are set as they are, and which trees are best to hang them in is vital information. By advising people in their community based on practical experience, our harvesting teams will help us build a resilient and well-resourced pool of beekeepers throughout the region.
It’s smiles all round after a long day in the field. Musanya’s regional supervisors are chuffed with their new recruits. With a big harvest looming in December, they’ve got teams they can depend on in Mufumbwe and Kasempa Districts. Their next mission is to get the teams in the Kakoma Chieftaincy up to speed and it’s back to their desks to plan the distribution of more hives.
Spread a little cheer with our easy-peasy Honey Cherry Vanilla Muffins and get the best out of Musanya’s pure African honey and seasonal cherries.
We’re always talking about the quality of the honey we harvest. Of course we are. We love the flavour, we love its purity and best of all, we are proud of how our honey is changing lives in remote parts of Africa.
Superfood honeys fuel your body so it can fight back against chronic disease and other nutrient deficiencies. Our honey comes from small, African producers to encourage sustainable development in rural communities.
Creating small business opportunities for people in remote rural communities is all part of the promise of Musanya’s sustainable beekeeping project.