Under normal circumstances, the rainy season would have started in earnest. But it is Mid-December and day after day of cloudless skies, have sucked moisture from mother earth, leaving the crust a cracked sun-baked cake.

Feeling hard done, villagers spend time casting eyes on the skies, on the ground and little everywhere else, looking for rainfall signals.

Desperate, they tune their ears to the sounds of crickets and cicadas for the signal, but there is nothing. They look at the new tree leaves and sniff the air for the signal but it is just not coming. No rains, nothing. Nothing!

Do they not say desperate situations breed new ideas?

Communities in the Mapfungautsi area of Gokwe have found relief through beekeeping as a coping mechanism following poor rains in the just ended cropping season.

Most people here have harvested good stocks of honey which they sell to raise money for food, medicine and to meet other basic needs.

Access to food to a majority of people in Zimbabwe still remains a big challenge as the country grapples with a drought. Gokwe is among the hardest hit districts in the country.

Bertha Moyo, a beekeeper, says honey could help boost the immunity of people against the novel coronavirus which has infected more than 5 million people and claimed the lives of over 300 000 people worldwide.

“We have turned to beekeeping since we had poor crop harvests due to drought. While we are on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are harvesting good stocks of honey thanks to Mapfungautsi Forest and the ongoing conservation efforts,” she said.

Moyo said business is brisk as most consumers want to use honey and herbal medicines to treat common colds and flu as well as boosting their immunity.

“We are enjoying good business here as travellers come to buy honey which they hope will boost their immunity against Covid-19. Our area is well-known for selling pure honey and we are happy that business has been good,” she said. “Even though few people are travelling due to the lockdown, I have been able to sell up to 30 bottles and the demand is growing. I am confident that we will meet the growing demand,” said Patronella Chisango, who sells honey in Fairfields.

Chisango said they continue to guard jealously their forest since it has become a source of their livelihood.

“Conservation of the forest is everyone’s responsibility here. We protect it from veld fires and local committees have been put in place to play a watchdog role. We are working closely with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the Forestry Commission. Most people here are into beekeeping and it’s helping them to earn money to buy food and other basic needs.”

Beekeepers in Zimbabwe and across the world celebrated World Bee Day on May 20 under the theme “Bees impacting lives and food security”.

A virtual online commemoration of the World Bee Day for Africa was held through support from the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations — Regional Commission for Africa, where over 150 apiculture experts met and deliberated on the future of the industry.

Speaking on the platform, Apimondia Regional Commission for Africa president, Mr David Mukomana said its high time Africa embraced beekeeping as a sustainable and lucrative industry.

“Imagine school children being taken through the importance of bees to mankind and the environment from early stages of their education. It would help the attitude of our people to protect our insect species,” he said.

“We have to change our education curriculum to teach our children about the importance of bees to our ecosystem. With proper knowledge, we can protect the declining bee populations. Bees are part of our biodiversity and play a huge role in improving the livelihoods of our rural communities.”

Zimbabwe, Mukomana noted, needed to draw lessons from other African communities where beekeeping was transforming livelihoods.

“Imagine if our rural African women could be empowered through beekeeping! They are the ones who shoulder the burden of looking after families when their husbands are away in search of work,” he said.

“In Kenya, beekeeping has empowered Maasai women who are now able to feed their families and send their children to school while in Tanzania, the concept of beekeeping being replicated in other African countries has seen local communities transforming their beekeeping businesses into commercial enterprises owned by community members to boost output and bargaining power on the market.”

Mukomana further said: “There are massive opportunities not only to create jobs for the youths but wealth creation through beekeeping and provision of related equipment and services including modern technology to improve apiary management in line with Good Beekeeping Practices as promulgated by FAO in partnership with Apimondia.

“Africa can be a land of plenty without extending its begging bowl for aid. It can easily harness its natural resources to generate income and revenue for its survival.”

Zimbabwean Forestry executive, Robert Mtisi said Beekeeping is a crucial component of livelihood diversification in sub-Sahara Africa, as it can supplement household incomes, food and medicine.

The relatively low start-up costs, labour requirements and minimum land ownership, render beekeeping an attractive economic pathway out of poverty for the rural poor, particularly women and young people. Additionally, bees provide an important ecosystem service via pollination, directly contributing to enhanced food security,

“Beekeeping, is crucially important for agricultural well-being; it represents and symbolises the natural biological interdependence that comes from insects, pollination and production of seed. Useful small-scale efforts to encourage beekeeping can be found throughout the world, helping people to strengthen livelihoods and ensuring maintenance of habitat and biodiversity,” said Mtisi.

In Zimbabwe and most other Africa countries, the full potential of beekeeping still remains largely untapped.

Wildlife experts in 2019 estimated that Africa’s top honey-producing countries could earn an estimated $100 million per year if more is done to promote sustainable beekeeping through increased investment and innovation.

Ethiopia, which is Africa’s biggest honey producer, makes 45 000 to 50 000 tonnes of honey a year with a lot of that used in local wine making and less than 1 000 tonnes exported.

Experts say beekeeping in Africa is largely run by NGOs, which set up rural communities with basic equipment and then leave. Beekeepers still lack training and access to the market.

Despite all the challenges encountered by beekeepers, sustainable bee farming has tremendous benefits as it underpins the protection of bees while at the same time saving forests and providing a steady stream of income and business opportunities.