This new initiative began in May 2023 and much has been achieved in the first six months. 44 women and 44 men without jobs and without land have been trained on the basic concepts of beekeeping including the how to keep bees, how to make a beekeeping business, the link between beekeeping, pollination, and biodiversity conservation, the comparative advantages of the different beekeeping systems and top-bar hive making. Learning how to make their own top-bar hives using locally available, natural materials means that all new beekeepers can gradually scale up their beekeeping enterprise as they wish. They have the means, the skills and the knowledge. Bees multiply by themselves – by swarming or splitting, and how to do this forms part of the training also. All 90 project participants have been given further support such as a basic beekeeping start-up kit.

Ethiopia has favourable conditions for beekeeping and excellent natural resources which underpin honey and beeswax production. Nevertheless, this nature–friendly business is not supporting people’s livelihoods as much as it could and there remains huge potential for more people to benefit more. Bees for Development Ethiopia is working to develop this potential. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nOne of the constraints is the high cost of beehives and associated beekeeping equipment – especially the so-called ‘modern’ hives which are much promoted by government agencies and some NGOs in Ethiopia. These precision-carpentry timber hives are just too expensive for most rural farmers, and this creates a ‘beehive barrier’ to beekeeping adoption. There are other constraints too, such as pesticide use, deforestation causing reduced forage availability, lack of access to credit and a mindset which regards beekeeping as a sideline and not a business. These issues, together with the ‘beehive barrier’ mean that the country, including the Amhara Region, are not earning the full economic and environmental benefits from the beekeeping sector that they could.\r\n\r\nEthiopia is experiencing significant demographic pressure as every year more than 2 million youth enter the labour market, leading to a projected rise in the labour force of more than 30% between 2019 and 2030. Currently, youth unemployment is a critical challenge in Ethiopia and Amhara Region as well. Lack of quality education and training, working capital and land are the major constraints for self-employment.\r\n\r\nConscious of the rural youth and women unemployment challenge and aware of the latent potential in beekeeping, Bees for Development and Bees for Development Ethiopia designed a project called Nature-based Beekeeping to Support Youth Employment in Ibnat district, Amhara Region. The project aims to create employment opportunities and income-earning possibilities for 120 resource poor rural youth and women (60 men and 60 women) in Amstya Kebele of Ibnat district by the end of March 2026. The key project activities include:\r\n\r\n Skill development in entrepreneurship\r\n How to get started with Nature Based Beekeeping\r\n Forest restoration, biodiversity conservation and protection of degraded watersheds\r\n Creating access to financial services

Beekeepers act as a warning system for general pollinator health, as they are some of the only people to regularly interact and monitor insect populations. The importance of this connection is especially evident in parts of the world where wide-scale and more targeted environmental monitoring practices are less developed or simply don’t exist. Bees for Development Ethiopia has been working in the Amhara region, one of Africa’s most impoverished areas, since 2012 to support and develop beekeeping among local people. This sustainable and easy-to-access form of income for these poor communities also supports the monitoring of broader pollinator health. The More Bees project, started in 2022, came about as a direct result of the beekeepers’ awareness of how pesticides were affecting their bees. The ensuing work has made great progress in tackling the problems around pesticide usage, through the introduction of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). IPM primarily focuses on increasing the natural populations of predator species which then controls the organisms causing crop damage, without the need for pesticides. This reduction in pesticide use will benefit all pollinators, increase crop yields and local beekeepers should see healthier honey bee populations.

Ethiopia. To make ends meet he works hard cultivating crops including produces teff, rice, maize, onion, tomato, grass pea, chick pea. He also rears livestock and has 15 beehives. Molla noticed that as he used more pesticides, his honey bees were dying. “I was causing harm to my bees by applying pesticides on my vegetables. I am to blame. But what can I do? This is the modern way”. Molla’s understanding of pesticide use changed dramatically after attending Bees for Development’s Farmer Field School. Before this, he knew little about the negative impact of pesticides in the agro-ecosystem. He applied excessive pesticides as he didn’t understand about alternative methods of pest control, the role of natural enemies of crop pests and the pollination service of beneficiary insects.

It may seem ambitious to expect small insects – honey bees – to create jobs for a million people, but that is exactly what the Mass Youth Employment in Apiculture (MaYEA) project aims to do. In partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, this Ethiopian nationwide project is being implemented by a consortium of local organisations, to create 1 million jobs, triple Ethiopia’s honey production, and increase market competitiveness. Following the training, Asfaw Tassew, 28, made his own top-bar hives. He learned how to harvest whole honey combs, which sells for high prices.

Q: What motivated you to establish BfD Ethiopia? It was because of the encouragement I received from the team at Bees for Development UK that I felt bold enough to take the big step of leaving my existing job and setting up a new organization dedicated to beekeeping development. One of the strong motivating factors was my concern about the welfare of bees. Nowadays, where crops are irrigated, bees are negatively affected, and honey production is falling – because of the high use of pesticides. Q: One of your stated aims is to promote ‘beekeeper-friendly beekeeping’ – what do you mean by this term? Why ‘beekeeper-friendly’? We are not promoting frame hives, which are often called ‘modern’ hives. These are the yellow hives donated in their thousands by other projects in Ethiopia. They look attractive at first, but the benefits of these yellow hives do not justify the high costs, their maintenance demands and their need for associated equipment. We promote beekeeping systems which do not harm beekeepers’ pockets and where beekeepers can harvest whole honey comb which is demanded by the market. Frame hives work best when honey is extracted using a centrifuge and drawn comb can be re-used. This approach is not easy for rural beekeepers to follow as they don’t have honey extractors and have nowhere to store drawn comb from one season to the next and the benefit is quickly lost. The type of beekeeping systems we promote is based on indigenous knowledge and skill. We provide training based on the seasonality of the beekeeping calendar. For example, during the dearth period beekeepers are trained how to make hives and top-bars from locally available materials and they learn about the importance of beekeeping. During the active season participants are trained on bee colony management and how to harvest honey, whilst maintaining quality. Q: What has been your greatest achievement since establishing BfD Ethiopia? What are you most proud of? We started out with a one-man (myself) office in 2012. Now after 10 years we have reached 10 staff members! But seriously more important than that we have managed to influence the government extension systems. Formerly the government was promoting the ubiquitous yellow frame hives only, but now they pay attention to top-bar hives and recognize that it’s the impact of beekeeping for people’s lives, which is more important than the type of hive. I am also proud when I visit the honey market in Bahir Dar. It is now known by the honey traders in the market that the best quality honey is brought by beekeepers trained by BfDE staff. We have achieved so much since 2013 and have made a difference to the lives of nearly 4000 households – including landless youth, women and the poorest groups. We have worked with people who had never kept bees before, and those who had – always providing practical training, advice and follow-up so people can get the best from beekeeping. We have worked on the restoration of degraded land by re-greening and re-wilding badly eroded hillsides, by halting erosion, planting trees and protecting natural regeneration. These recovering lands are now providing pollen and nectar for honey bees and income for beekeepers. This is a big achievement! Q: I am sure you have faced challenges along the way. What have been these challenges and how have you overcome them? Approving the first project proposal was a big challenge because at that time the government rules about how NGO’s could apportion their budget were very strict and it was hard to allocate sufficient budget lines for staff salaries. Also, this first project was approved to start in June – which was late in relation to the beekeeping season. To avoid missing a whole beekeeping season we had to start work immediately and convince the beneficiaries to participate in the project during their farming season. However, I managed to get help from colleagues – Solomon Orion and Seid Ali – from the Livestock Agency and we were successful. I remember one night back in August 2013, I was driving home at 9:30 pm after beekeeping training in Robite – I was 11 km from Bahir Dar and there was big thunderstorm with high wind, and floods on the highway. At that time I was using my own small car for transport and I was very scared of being washed away. After that I dreamed about getting a 4WD vehicle for my organization and finally we managed to secure a strong 4WD in 2018 from the Federal Civil Society Agency free of charge. That was an important milestone! Q: What are the most pressing issues facing beekeepers in Ethiopia at present? Today the beekeeping industry in Ethiopia is challenged by unsystematic applications of agrochemicals. It is painful to see the most powerful, important and unique creatures – the honey bees – dying due to our ignorance. Deforestation is also a challenge as this deprives bees of habitat and forage and undermines the success of beekeeping. Finally, it is disappointing to see that the government extension service does not always pay enough attention to beekeeping. Q: What do you want to achieve within the next 10 years? Last year we developed our 10-year Strategic Plan for Bees for Development Ethiopia and we want to realise that – the plan includes three main Strategic Objectives – Income for the poor, Improved forest cover and Stronger institutional capacity for the sector in Ethiopia. I am determined to achieve these goals. I also want to open one liaison office in Addis Ababa and three more branch offices in different part of the country. This will increase our reach and capacity.