To improve decent job creation in the agriculture and green economy sectors, youth from the districts of Kasese, Bunyangabu, and Ntoroko have received training on beekeeping from Bunyangabu Beekeepers Cooperative (BBC). One of the results of the Social Protection portfolio focuses on decent employment creation and enhancement for youth and women in agriculture, tourism, and the green economy and aims to increase the contributive capacity of workers for social protection schemes.

Apiculture is a crucial component of livelihood diversification in Uganda since it can supplement household incomes, food, and medicine.  Though still with an enormous potential for employment, beekeeping remains largely untapped, especially among the youth; amidst a dire situation of women and girls in the working age bracket continually facing rising level of unemployment.

The apiary training in the 3 districts targeted 80 youth with 70% female and 30% male. It among others imparted technical and entrepreneurial skills to the participants such as; hive making from local materials, apiary establishment and management, honey Harvesting, post-harvest handling of honey and other bee products, and the cost-benefit analysis of Beekeeping.

The Head of Training and Fieldwork, Bunyangabu Beekeepers Cooperative, Nkule Edison said that they are committed to continuously building the capacity of the youth in beekeeping and value addition to its products so that they can meet the readily available market needs, in Uganda and beyond. He added that apiary relatively requires low start-up costs, low labour requirements, low maintenance costs, and minimum requirements for land ownership. “These render beekeeping an attractive economic pathway to get out of poverty for the rural poor, particularly women and young people who are constantly challenged by limited resources”, said Edison.

Baluku Mohoza, one of the trainees from Kasese district said that he is going to fully utilize the skills he acquired from the training to become an active beekeeper, generate income for his personal needs, and contribute to environment conservation. “Bees pollinate our crops, which promotes food security. I have also learned that planting more trees is a very good practice in apiary, in doing so, we will be conserving the environment”, added Baluku.

Another trainee, Muhindo Mariam from Kabarole district plans to make 15 more hives by the end of the year after getting practical skills to make beehives from local materials; bamboo sticks, reeds, banana fibre, and cow dung. Mariam plans to also share the skills she acquired with other youth in her community, having learnt about the benefits of beekeeping from the training.

According to a report released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries in 2023, Uganda produces 4,000 metric tons of honey per annum and approximately 1.2 million people are involved in beekeeping. The national and regional honey production remains below the potential supply levels with beekeepers harvesting almost less than 1% of the estimated production potential of 500,000 metric tons. The global demand for honey is estimated at 1.8 million metric tons, with a market value of USD 7.8Bn (Uganda Investment Authority).

Bunyangabu Beekeepers Cooperative (BBC) currently produces 30 – 35 tons of honey annually, which increased from 20 – 25 tons following the opening of honeycomb community collecting centres in the five districts of Kasese, Ntoroko, Kabarole, Bundibugyo, and Bunyangabu.  All the honey produced by BBC is consumed locally in the Ugandan market.  The cooperative got access to the European market but opted out due to limited productivity to meet the required supply of 4 metric tons per month.  This required increasing productivity to 70 – 75 metric tons per year if they were to sustain supplying both the local and international markets.

The partnership that Enabel has with Bunyangabu Beekeepers Cooperative (BBC) recognizes the role of the youth in taking up apiculture as a business and a highly valuable enterprise that can be effectively transformed into commercial farming for money generation and environmental conservation through the use of climate-smart initiatives.