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Bees for Babar (BfB) beneficiaries recieve regular training.
Above, a woman's cooperative prepare to participate in training that included the removal of wild bee colonies that had nested in residences.
Click on text or images below to jump to corresponding page:
Beeginnings... |
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Elephants can damage shea trees
, used for the edible fruit and oil it produces, and other crops
that villagers depend upon for sustenance and income. |
Mohammed Ali Ibrahim, one of BfB's community beekeeping trainers, poses in
Mole Park with a pachyderm backdrop. |
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In June of 2008 carpenters in the town of Tamale
begin to cut wood to begin construction on KTBH's that will be loaned
at cost to Mognori villagers on a rotating credit system. |
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Check out Mognori at Google Earth at 9.291180°, -1.776150°
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By mid-September 2008, with the assistance of
OIC Tamale, BfB Ghana director Mohammed Ali Ibrahim had trained Mognori
villagers to construct KTBH's in preparation for the upcoming swarm
season. In October of 2008 the completed hives were
rubbed down with lemon grass and/or beeswax to attract passing swarms.
Handles were added to facilitate transporting and hanging the hives. |
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Roofs of corrogated zinc keep out the torrential rains of the rainy
season and help deflect the pounding sun during hot weather assisting
the bees in keeping the hive cool. In tropical Africa, as in most
hot climates, it is advantageous to keep hives in an area where
they will receive shade during the warmest times of day. That way
the bees will not have to spend too much effort bringing in water
and fanning to keep the hives cool. |
Hives were hung in the kinds of trees on which elephants
most like to feed or those most valued by farmers such as shea nut
trees. To be effective the hives must also placed at the points that
elephants are most likely to use as entry-ways onto cropped areas
so that the passing of the elephants triggers the bees' defensive
behaviour. Care must be taken that the villagers do not stake out
their goats or cows near the hives as animals restrained in this manner
so as not to damage crops can easily be killed if they disturb the
bees since they will not be able to escape. |
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In many cases community members preferred to set hives on stands for ease of handling or because locally available rope rotted easily. Nontheless elephants learn to recognize the shape of beehives and will avoid areas where they are located-- even, it turns out, if the hives have not yet been colonized. |
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In woodlands or areas that are not suitable for farming, such as this floodplain, beekeeping provides a means by which these marginal lands can produce an income without clearing vegetation that provides stablization, habitat and other environmental values. |
BfB also provided personal protective equipment to beekeepers including hats, veils, overalls, gloves and smokers. Women in the area work long hours to conduct all the chores that are largely mechanized in the developed world-- from growing food on subsistence farm plots to gathering firewood to cook it. Beekeeping provides a low-input undertaking to provide them valuable income. |
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Mognori farmers pose near the boundary of
Mole Park (the sign has been enlarged in the inset). Unfortunately
for subsistence farmers elephants do not always stay on their side
of the boundary. "Guardian bee hives" help to keep
wandering elephants from raiding the crops necessary to feed villagers'
families-and will provide nutritious honey and useful beeswax which
can be utilized by the producers or sold to buy necessities. |
