Story by Tamuka Charakupa
AT least 700 people from across Hurungwe district have benefited from an apiculture project being rolled out by government, through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and ZimApiculture Trust under the Zambezi Valley Biodiversity Project.
The Chitindiva community of Hurungwe is reaping the benefits of environmental conservation after the success of their apiculture business venture.
700 people, each equipped with three beehives, testify to the benefits of the initiative which has also received a huge boost through the commissioning of a honey processing plant in the area this Thursday.
“This is a project which has got at least 700 beneficiaries from across Hurungwe district. This initiative is very critical to our community because it has come along with a wide range of benefits including environmental conservation, sustainable livelihood initiative as well as mitigating human wildlife conflict.
“Going forward we are looking at value addition so that we fully use our natural resources,” said Hurungwe Beekeepers Association chairperson, Mr Willard Phiri.
“This initiative is proving to be a game changer for my community especially on reducing the rate of deforestation and veld fires.
“Our communities are taking a lead in ensuring that there is no fire because that is where they reap their benefits. We have also noted a decrease in reported cases of gender-based violence because people will be busy and taking safe care of these cash enterprises,” Sabhuku Hands Chundu said.
“We had a drought last year, so we did not reap much in our fields, without alternative sources of income we were going to face a huge crisis. Honey production has therefore empowered us as women since we have now formalised and we are even supplying our products to some leading supermarkets in the country,” said a beneficiary of the programme.
“We are no longer fighting in our homes because we have something to do everyday which also has a monetary benefit to us. This has also enhanced the way we look after our forests,” weighed in another.
Implemented after an injection of over US$250 000 in Hurungwe, Mbire and Muzarabani districts, the project seeks to commercialise the enterprises through value addition to enhance sustainable forestry management, social inclusion and household resilience.
“ZimApiculture Trust is a Low value Grant recipient under the UNDP GEF6, Zambezi Valley Biodiversity Project and is implementing a project titled “Commercialisation of Honey Enterprises To Enhance Sustainable Forestry Management, Social Inclusion And Household Resilience Through Upscaling”.
“The project trained a total of 2091 beekeepers (1362 male and 728 female) from Hurungwe, Mbire and Muzarabani since 2020 who were provided with at least three beehives each giving a total of 6 000 beehives.
The project also constructed three honey processing centres which were equipped with honey processing equipment in the three Districts,” ZimApiculture Trust Director, Mrs Selina Chitapi said.
The government is impressed by the new approach towards environmental conservation.
“As the government, we cannot do it alone. Environment conservation needs a whole of society approach where our policies as government integrate with those of local authorities, traditional leadership etc so that we move together. The Forestry Commission is distributing trees freely to the community, and the onus is on us to embrace so that we restore our forests. A tree today, a forest tomorrow,” said the Acting Deputy Director Wildlife Conservation in the Ministry of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Mr Tendai Ruzvidzo.
Meanwhile, the Forestry Commission is distributing trees across the country with the focus on restoring ingenious species which are under threat of extinction due to massive deforestation in rural communities.
