Beekeeping Empowers KIWAVIKAI Group to Thrive and Protect Kilombero Forest

The project has eased access to transportation for HIV treatment and improved our food security with chicken for eggs and meat. Beekeeping provides us with honey, candles, and oils, boosting both our income and well-being. We are now respected in the community and even support non-members in need.

KIWAVIKAI has helped me purchase land and start building a house with 4,000 bricks ready. I’ve also harvested rice from six acres and started keeping chicken, which are now laying eggs. This project has brought financial stability and supports my medical needs.

The beekeeping project generated TZS 1.5 million from honey sales, and every member received six chicken to rear. I’ve built a house, bought land, and significantly improved my farming output, harvesting 60 bags of rice from five acres. This project has transformed my life and secured my children’s education.

I purchased a quarter-acre plot of land and hired laborers to expand my farm, thanks to this project. The honey we produce improves my health and supplements my income. I feel empowered to live with confidence and independence despite my health challenges.

Since joining KIWAVIKAI, I have gained confidence and improved my life significantly. The beekeeping project supported by EAMCEF provided us with 80 beehives, training, and modern equipment for honey harvesting. This has enabled me to earn income, improve my health, and pay for transportation to St. Francis Hospital, which was previously a challenge. Today, I can afford nutritious meals, send my children to school, and even rear goats as additional sources of income.

“Before joining this group, I had children in school who, unfortunately, lost their father. I helped them. After joining this group, I began earning money to support the children who lost their fathers, as well as raising chicken and ducks.

“After seeing the people of Jitegemee producing plenty of honey and earning extra income to support their children’s education by selling honey and beeswax, I was inspired to join beekeeping. Thanks to the Jitegemee group, we are striving to follow in their footsteps and succeed as they have. I express my heartfelt gratitude to the Eastern Arc Mountains Conservation Endowment Fund (EAMCEF), who sponsored Jitegemee, so that we too can benefit from their knowledge.

Joining the Wosia wa Baba group transformed my life. Starting with just a few hives, I now have 20, producing 200 liters of honey annually and earning about 2 million shillings. This income has allowed me to build a two-room house, install electricity, and buy a TV, giving me a lifestyle comparable to city living. I’ve also expanded my rice farming to three acres, ensuring year-round food security for my family. Most importantly, the project has secured my children’s education and given me peace of mind knowing I can support them.

Before joining Wosia wa Baba, I lived in a small, two-room, thatched house. With the group’s support, I built a six-room home by 2023 and opened a shop earning 100,000 shillings monthly. Thanks to EAMCEF, I’ve moved from poverty to stability, sending one child to university and another to secondary school. I also harvest 50 liters of honey per season, earning an extra 200,000 shillings yearly.

I am a widowed woman but no longer frustrated because I use income from beekeeping activities to invest in other productive activities – last year I did not touch any hoe, instead I hired a tractor to plough my farm!

Bees [to mean beekeeping] are enough, I remember I almost got bitten by a black mamba [a snake] in search for honey in the forest. I no longer need to go up there [in the forest] again I no longer feel stressed paying school fees for my children, in the past I was very much disgraced…I borrowed TZS. 40,000 to pay for school fee, but ended up repaying one sack of paddy worthy TZS. 100,000!

We [the group] are like conservators, by practicing beekeeping we know that bees depend on the environment around so we don’t allow anyone to cut trees or burn them down…I am very much enthusiastic about the project and I am now a good teacher to others. I would advise the villagers to ensure that during village land use planning exercise, a large chunk of land is set aside for tree planting and beekeeping activities. This will reduce pressure on protected forests since the woodlots would provide firewood too.

We received 50 modern beehives from EAMCEF, in 2016 alone each hive produced 15-20 litres of honey – five times the amount produced from traditional beehives! In 2016 alone, we sold 250 litres of honey for TZS. 2,500,000 and used part of the money to lease a two-acre farm where we planted sugarcane. From sugarcane, we earned another TZS. 2,500,000 and used part of it to initiate another business – we bought 10 bicycles and hired them for transport services within the village, from bicycles we got TZS. 5,000,000 within 6 months. Each group member receives a 25% dividend, I used mine to buy a bicycle for my son who used to walk 14KM every day for school. With the bicycle, my son can now get back home early and do his assignments… he now gets 70-80% grades than the usual 50-55% in his exams. Our success as a group has promoted formulation of 15 other beekeeping groups within the village, villagers are no longer risking their lives in the forests for income.

Our group has made a difference in the village, we are lending money to people in critical needs, especially to members of the village community banks (VICOBA) without charging any interest. Our group saved the lives of 4 villagers who were very sick but unable to afford hospital costs.