BEE for beekeepers
Sheree Russouw
18 October 2002
Ronia Molapo, her face hidden beneath the veneer of a veil, deftly uses her smoker to draw thousands of bees out of their hives. With the delicate finesse of an apiarist, she lifts the cover of the hive, revealing layer upon layer of honeycomb, coating the hives like golden treasure.
Molapo is not afraid of the bees, even as they swoop around her legs and circle her face. She says the bees are her friends and even admits to talking to them - in honeyed tones of course.
The eight other beekeepers at this farm in Muldersdrift, a vast rural area located on the outskirts of Johannesburg, speak too of their love for bees. After all, it is these bees that are the chief makers of their product, Inyosi Honey, which originates from a Zulu word meaning ‘bee’. It offers a valuable, often the only, source of income for their community.
Behind the beekeepers’ 40-odd beehives is a scattering of rundown shacks, leaning in the arid grasslands of
Muldersdrift. About 500 people, living in 35 rural and poor communities across the country, have been trained and mentored in the skills that will allow them to join the ranks of South Africa’s new breed of beekeepers.
And these beneficiaries of the Agricultural Research Council’s Beekeeping for the Relief of Poverty Programme, which started in April 2001, are passionate about their honey.
'I used to be afraid'
More than R6-million has been pumped into the project from the coffers of the Departments of Agriculture, Social Development and Science and Technology, as well as the Agricultural Research Council (ARC). It is the biggest beekeeping development programme in South Africa and it is also the first time in the history of South African apiculture that so many beekeepers have been trained, according to the ARC.
“Before I became a beekeeper, I was just sitting at home, doing nothing,” says Molapo. “Now I’m a beekeeper and I’m
learning new skills all of the time. I’m not scared of the bees at all. I used to be afraid, but now I love bees.”
As beekeeping is not labour-intensive, the ARC punts it as being ideal for women and young people. Indeed, most of the Muldersdrift beekeepers are under 30 and female. And because beekeeping is not highly technical, its skills can be mastered in a few training workshops.
Owned by the community
Molefi Selibo’s love for his community, and his desire to uplift its inhabitants’ living conditions, is what inspired this former bricklayer and hairdresser to start the Itireleng Farming Association. “I saw that a lot of people in the area were not working and so I got some people together to form the association. In the beginning we never imagined that we would become beekeepers. We thought we would try our hand at crop or cattle farming.”
In the beginning of 2001, Selibo, joined by a cluster of aspirant farmers, approached the
local authorities in Mogale City, formerly called Krugersdorp, to help fund their farming venture. Sophy Makuka, the deputy director for the development of small and medium-sized businesses for Mogale City, saw the potential, and approached the ARC for funding. The ARC then decided to introduce the farmers to its beekeeping programme.
Makuka remembers: “Because we work with the community, Mogale City approached the community about the beekeeping idea. They were all like, ‘Wow, bees’. You could tell that they didn’t know what to think of the idea at first. Now this project has given all of the beekeepers insight into so many things. And the most important thing is that it is community owned.”
About 8.5ha of land was provided in pollen-rich areas known to be favoured by bee colonies – the insects apparently vie for sunflowers before aloe and blue gum. There are about 20 000 bees per hive.
Then in May 2001, the Muldersdrift beekeepers started selling their honey
commercially. According to Elize Lundall-Magnuson, from the ARC’s beekeeping development department, the beekeepers can earn over R300 a year per beehive if they sell their honey in bulk to commercial buyers. “If they further sell their honey in bottles and in straws, they can then double their income per hive.”
Beeswax and cosmetics
It seems that there is a great demand for honey. The local industry is valued at over R3-billion. “There is a big demand for honey in South Africa. We imported 300 tons of honey into the country in 2001. Commercial buyers have even told the ARC that they will buy all the honey that is available”, says Lundall-Magnuson.
Diversifying bee products will reap more income for beekeepers, she adds. Profits can be made sweeter by producing beeswax and cosmetic products, and the beekeepers can hire out their hives to local farmers for pollinating sunflower crops, for example. Soon the beekeepers plan to supplement their
income with vegetable farming.
Mokoka believes the programme has important economic spin-offs for the community. “At least a fraction of the people who benefit can address other problems faced by their communities. That’s why I think a project like this makes a difference. But if people aren’t entrepreneurs themselves, and don’t look after their money, then it won’t work. The government will never have the capacity to run business for people.”
Beekeeping is low-cost, and is proving to be a sustainable form of agriculture. “Once the bees are inside their hives, they work for the farmer, who only manages them”, says Lundall-Magnuson. “The farmers can increase their number of hives using some of their profits, and therefore they can increase their income. They do not need land, just a place to put their hives, and they can do this until they are old.”
The programme's honey is pure and unrefined, and reputed to taste better than other honey - afficionados have been
flocking to outlets to buy it. “As the honey is produced in deep rural areas, and the beekeepers are not using traditional extraction methods, the honey tastes different”, says Lundall-Magnuson. “We are also 100 percent sure that our honey comes from South Africa!”
But there are problems. While the Muldersdrift beefarmers won R60 000 in the SAB Kickstart Competition this year, and bought a bakkie and a computer, other beekeepers in the programme are not as lucky. Theft of equipment is rife, and many beekeepers cannot hire out their hives to farmers as they do not have transport to reach them.
A 5 000-year-old industry
Beekeeping can be traced back 5 000 years, to when beehives were first used to produce honey in Ancient Egypt. The art of beekeeping is even illustrated in the rock paintings of the San. Fittingly, the acronym for black economic empowerment is BEE, and Lundall-Magnuson believes that this empowerment programme is important in an
African context.
"South Africans have always been hunting for honey, but have never kept bees. Beekeeping was the white man’s business. This programme is trying to change people’s mindsets from destroying hives in the wild to managing bees in their own hives and reaping the benefits”, she says.
'We talk to the bees'
Selibo and his colleagues are chagrined at the idea of hunting bees. “We know that in the olden days people used to hunt down bees and smoke them out from a tyre. But not us. We look after the bees. We talk to them. They are our best friends”, he says.
Selibo admires the work ethic of the bees. “Bees are very organised,” he says. “Each group has its own work. It’s just like what we beekeepers do. Our labour is divided, just as the bees’ labour is divided. We have real beekeepers who harvest the honey; we have people that bottle the honey; we have salespeople who sell our honey; and drivers who transport our
honey.”
While the beekeepers say they are not afraid of being stung, this can probably be attributed to the fact that they have felt the wrath of the bees many a time. Colleen Mosito, the association’s bookkeeper, starts to count how many times she has been stung, but soon gives up.
“It is sore but you get used to it,” she says with a shrug. “The bees have saved my life. I was just doing piece jobs and not making any money. Now, I’ve learnt so much. The bees do get irritated sometimes, but you must just be gentle with them.”
Honey's healing properties
Eating honey cured Mosito's mysteriously swollen foot, and all the beekeepers laud the medicinal properties of honey. “This honey, it is medicine. It strengthens your immune system and if you have a wound, it will heal it for you”, Mosito says.
Undoubtedly bees have bought a healing touch to this community. Twenty-four-year old Richard makes candles from beeswax. It only takes
him a minute. “Here I am doing something constructive. Instead of doing nothing, we are healing ourselves,” he says.
It is believed that worldwide there are 50% fewer beekeepers today than there were 50 years ago. Says Lundall-Magnuson: “Beeping is not an easy agricultural practice, and one still needs a lot of labour. Mechanisation is possible to a point, but people are still necessary. One of the possible reasons for the decline in the number of beekeepers could be that natural resources are being depleted, or it can be attributed to temperature changes. But we’re trying to change this in South Africa.”
The ARC says that its beekeeping programme holds benefits for biodiversity. “The increased number of beehives in the country increases the pollination and therefore the biodiversity”, says Lundall-Magnuson, adding that the programme is honey badger-friendly. Beekeepers in the Western Cape, where there are large populations of the animals, place their hives high up on
stands to prevent badgers from reaching them.
The badgers are not the programme's only fans. Here, in the sweltering heat of Muldersdrift, a group of kids playing in their shacks peer out at the beehives. From the look on their faces, they may be hoping to be beekeepers themselves one day. Or maybe they're just waiting for a taste of Inyosi’s delicious honey.
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