When they began their beekeeping enterprise two years ago, they had no idea that the business would turn their lives around. The 27 bee farmers from Mogotio are part of the over 800 bee farmers who have been mobilized and trained on modern beekeeping techniques by Hand in Hans Eastern Africa and Africa Beekeeping Limited(ABL)

This project is solving the problem of women’s and youth’s poverty and disempowerment by encouraging them to start beekeeping for commercial purposes as well as for environmental protection and conservation. Mogotio is classified as one of the arid and semi-arid areas causing the communities there to cut trees for charcoal business. The project seeks to restore the forest cover by encouraging bee farmers to plant trees and flowers for pollination.

Being the fourth harvest season, over 40 beehives were harvested, the biggest number ever since inception. This activity took 3 days. The harvesting and extraction was done by the women with the help of experts from ABL and Hand in Hand. The harvesting was done at evening when the bees are less aggressive.

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