Beekeeping as a Pathway to Prosperity

The aim of the project is to promote sustainable beekeeping in the Nkoranza North District of the cashew zone. The project seeks to address the challenge of lower incomes of people in the area because of low honey production due to poor apiary management through refresher training, and also provide a marketing linkage between beekeepers and buyers. Initial interaction with the beekeepers in the two communities reveals that they lack adequate knowledge and other resources for sustainable beekeeping. For instance, Thomas Amponsah, a beekeeper, indicated that they do not know how to manage apiaries properly especially pest control – ants are causing serious absconding of bees in the area. In addition, they also have a ‘serious’ challenge [as described by the beekeepers] with marketing of bee products in the area. Thomas said “I have 3 jelly cans [25 L Kufour gallon] and 4 of the 4.5 L gallons since March 2022 but I haven’t been able to sell them. I also have some beeswax.” Again, the beekeepers there seem not to be aware of the importance of bee-cashew integration and so they are not adequately benefiting from the pollination activities of the bees. Checks revealed that they have established their apiaries far away from their cashew farms/orchards. The intervention encourages beekeepers/cashew farmers to introduce honeybee colonies into their cashew orchards to increase pollinator populations on their farms. Also, the project promotes the use of Oecophylla longinoda as a biological control agent for cashew pests. Farmers will avoid the use of agro-pesticides since this [use of Oecophylla longinoda] is an environmentally friendly pest control method. The bee population in the area will be protected.  The integrated systems approach is important to enable cashew farmers in the area to have secured, multiple and higher incomes from their farms to improve their livelihoods.