USAID/Guinea: Peace Corps, USAID Introduce Improved Beekeeping Practices in Guinea

MARCH 13, 2004

Peace Corps, USAID Introduce Improved Beekeeping Practices in Guinea

An Inter-Agency Agreement has brought together USAID partner Winrock International and Peace Corps Volunteers in agroforestry to improve beekeeping practices in guinea. The goal? To ensure that Guinea's naturally dark, rich honey gets sold at local markets, and gets introduced into the international market.

Peace Corps Volunteer Kent Brown, a congenial U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV) can easily be spotted around the rural Bissikrima area sporting a mustache and his signature white golfers' hat. What's the guy doing? Brown, a former PCV in both Tunisia and Senegal, has now come to Guinea with a specific set of skills, and a specific task: to help Guinean farmers improve their beekeeping practices. Brown is one of six agro-forestry volunteers working in collaboration with Winrock International, through a Peace Corps-USAID Inter-Agency Agreement (IAA), to improve agricultural practices in Guinea, beekeeping included.

Peace Corps Volunteer Kent Brown discusses the specifics of the construction of the Kenyan-style beehive with beekeepers in Koumarela village, in the Dabola area.

Beekeeping has long been carried out in Guinea since the tropical climate, with abundant rainfall and forest cover, is favorable for such an activity. The dark, rich honey obtained in Guinea is prized for the influence of wildflowers and tree species such as eucalyptus and acacia, which give the honey its strong, rich flavor. When properly harvested, the end product is an all-natural, high-quality honey.

Although traditional beekeeping methods are low or no cost and widely practiced by farmers, they present certain problems. The bees are usually chased out of straw and mud hives by setting brushfires, which often burn out of control, destroying precious forest resources. The bees are also often killed by fire or excessive heat, and are then scarce for subsequent harvests. The flavor of the honey often turns "smoky" as well from the fires. The hive is then simply cracked open and the honey harvested, largely for local household or community consumption, and the hive must be rebuilt each time the honey is harvested.

A Kenyan-style beehive being used by beekeepers in the Dabola area.

PCVs have in recent years been working with USAID partner Winrock Intl. to encourage the use of a number of modern beekeeping tools that resolve a number of these problems and are easily adapted to the Guinean context. One is the Kenyan top bar beehive (KTBH), an "intermediate technology" beehive similar to beehives used in the U.S. The Kenyan hive is made of wood, lasts up to seven years, and allows the establishment of permanent colonies of bees, and a regular schedule of honey collection.

Says PCV Brown, "Traditional beekeeping isn't called 'beekeeping' -- it's called 'bee-having.' There's a big difference. 'Bee-having' means you don't actually manage the hives, and you don't have any way to reuse the comb or the frames. In beekeeping, which is what we are trying to evolve to, there are moveable frames systems in the beehives so they are reusable. I think that in the next five years, there's going to be a large increase in the Kenyan beehives produced as people start to reap the benefits in increased profits."

Brown, who was trained in beekeeping as a PCV in Tunisia, is both training agro-forestry PCVs in beekeeping techniques, and collaborating with local Guinean field agents working for the Winrock project in enterprise development and appropriate technology. Winrock field agents are not only exchanging experiences in beekeeping with Peace Corps Volunteers but also working together to promote beekeeping by conveying good information on beekeeping to villagers in local languages.

Beekeepers in the Fouta Jallon highlands--photo courtesy of Winrock Intl.

Guinean beekeepers show a comb from a Kenyan beehive with 'operculated' or closed cells.

In addition, Peace Corps and USAID are introducing beekeeping tools such as suits, gloves, veils, boots, smokers and hive tools, and showing how these tools can be made with clothes and materials that can be found locally. Beekeepers are also trained to make Kenyan hives as well, significantly reducing the cost of expanding their operations. PCVs have put improved methods of beekeeping in place in villages in Labé, Tougué, Kouroussa, and Farannah. There, the IAA has provided funds for Kenyan beehives and beekeeping tools in which 25% of the project comes from the community, and the rest from the IAA.

Although the Kenyan system facilitates production of good quality honey and yields more honey per hive, Guinean producers are often limited in their use of Kenyan beehives by their available capital and lack of credit opportunities. With this in mind, a transitional approach is currently being used in which producers use both Kenyan and traditional hives, yet always make use of protective equipment and hand-held "smokers" used to make the bees flee, which eliminates the risk of bush fires, and usually allows the bee colonies to survive. In this way, Guinean beekeepers can continue to use traditional hives due to their low production cost, and gradually replace them with Kenyan hives as their means permit. The use of protective suits also allow the beekeeper to more carefully harvest honey, separating quality honey from the unripe product and bee larvae.

Fode Conde discusses the advantages of new keekeeping methods

Says Fodé Condé, "The new methods we've learned allow us to keep lots of colonies of bees, and allow us to harvest more honey." And, he says, "The honey also sells for a higher price."

Through new beekeeping methods being promoted by USAID and Peace Corps, high-quality honey is now being harvested, which now goes for double the price in the local markets, and is invariably sold when brought to market. The Agricultural Marketing Agency facilitates collection and distribution of market information to assist producers in making good decisions about when and where to sell their honey. The newer methods have also allowed some beekeepers in the Fouta Jalon highlands to sell their all-natural honey, as well as honey by-products such as beeswax, on the international market, including an order for 20 tons of honey from a French entrepreneur that is now being filled.

But what do beekeepers in Guinea think of the new methods?

Fodé Condé, President of the 30-member Beekeepers Association of Kalela village in the Dabola area, says that with the introduction of Kenyan beehives, honey production has increased from 40 liters in 2002 to 490 liters in 2003. Kalela is a fairly typical example of the inroads made in introducing new beekeeping methods. The Association currently has two Kenyan beehives and 14 traditional straw and mud hives, and several sets of beekeeping suits.

Condé says that although they plan to purchase more Kenyan beehives, it's advantageous for them right now to have both. Although half of the local production is still for household consummation, half will be sold on the local market.

Sory Conde kneels next to a Kenyan beehive in the Dabola region of Guinea

Says Sory Condé, "With the Kenyan beehives, we don't kill the bees when we harvest, and we get high-quality honey."

Says Condé, "The new methods we've learned, like pumping a little bit of smoke when we harvest instead of setting a fire under the hive, allow us to keep lots of colonies of bees, and allow us to harvest more honey. When we don't set fires, the honey also sells for a higher price -- a liter sells for $1 in the market whereas the 'smoky' honey sells for 50 cents."

Sory Condé, President of the Dabola Beekeepers Association, observed that local beekeepers are gradually adapting the new beekeeping methods, persuaded now that it is in their long-term interest. "With the Kenyan beehives, we don't kill the bees when we harvest, and we get high-quality honey. We can also harvest more honey than with the traditional beehives. The harvest is easy -- we don't have to smoke the bees out.. We are small farmers, and we have to invest in the Kenyan beehives little by little. We're putting aside money from sales to buy four or five at a time, and then distributing them to our members. The demand is there. Once we get the Kenyan hives and the bee-collecting equipment, we can satisfy the demand. Our wish is to furnish the whole world with high-quality honey!"

Story and Photos by Laura Lartigue