BE(E) TOGETHER

PROJECT REPORT uptated september 14th 2012

The project

The reason of the birth of the project Be(e) together is the request made by the beekeepers of the close/partner villages in Makawi for increasing the production of honey for the selling and the private consumption. The African people can produce honey by themselves cheaply and without big investments, contrary to sugar which requires high prices; besides, the people living in these villages cant produce sugar from sugar canes while they can how extract honey from the beehive. Consequently honey represents a food easily obtainable at family level and another source of income given that it can be sold. When we were in Pomerini these two years, we could realize that the technique involving bees, very popular in Italy, didnt exist there. The system they use to obtain honey is connected to their culture, which put honey among those products offered by Mother Nature, as, for example termites, ants, fruit, etc. Pratically honey is picked. It is a fruit not of production but of predaction. However, this predaction isnt left completely to chance. They dont look for wild beehives in the trees, but wherever the trees have been recreated: the right conditions for bees settling have been recreated in hollow trunks, in overturned amphoras, and in other inventions. Therefore today the situation on the tableland is the following: they provide the bees with various kinds of shelters (hollow trunks, wooden cases, weaves of banana leaves, earthenware amphoras...) and wait for the bees colonizing them spontaneously and then simply take the honeycombs off. No link between man and bee exists, but there is the attempt of men to imitate nature to produce more food. On the other hand, the western system is based on the beekeeping, that is a continuous relation with the bees. In the course of time this kind of relation made us understand the behaviour of the bees themselves and develop new techniques to make it easier in order to produce larger amounts of honey. We believe that this knowledge should be shared: in the passage from a providing food system based on the picking to another one based on the farming, the man is responsible for what hes breeding because he cooperates with Mother Nature in the production of food. Unfortunately in the western culture people are not so responsible and this causes an obvious imbalance of the natural order of things. Because of choices made only on the economy matter, today the global beekeeping situation is very bad. This inevitable passage is taking place also in Africa in many fields, including beekeeping. The only conceited aim right now is taking good decisions trying to find out a compromise between the bee and the man, that is between nature and production. We would lie if we said that we have a clear idea about how to do this, because

as well as the two mentioned factors (bees and men) there is also another one to take into consideration, that is the meeting between our culture and the African one. It necessarily leads to rhythm changes, adjustments and smoothing from both of the parts. By working on bees, men and cultures, Be(e) Together is now up to its second season in the villages of the upland. During the first part of the project (September and October 2010) we worked in particular on the relationship between bees and African beekeepers, trying to get the beekeepers more in contact with the bees by organizing group visits to the beehives, in order to understand what potential problems might result. It was possible to get close to the bees thanks to the use of the equipment (masks, gloves, etc.) that we brought and then left in Pomerini, so that it could be distributed to the beekeepers. The common problems that emerged in these meetings were how to position the beehives, what techniques to use when getting close to beehives and more, so we decided to write a small booklet that explains the basic operations of apiculture. This booklet has been translated in kiswahili. Throughout all these operations we collaborated with the African beekeeper Huruma Matagi, responsible for the beekeeping sector in Mawaki. Huruma showed us that he had the potentiality and capacity for apiculture and for the coordination of the villages beekeepers. So, when we left (end of October 2010), we both agreed that he wouldve distributed the booklets to all beekeepers and the whole equipment to the most valuable ones, in order that each village would have at least four complete kits.

Results achieved in 2012

During this year Be(e) Together got some important results, not really in improving production, that is still the same (5 kg for each beehive) for the reasons explained in the 2011 report, but in the general approach to apiculture: the beekeepers are starting to deal with their beehives with more dedication, remembering to go and observe them at least from the outside, and some of them are beginning to do little checkups. This is the first essential step they need to take in order to get the expected increase of honey production. We have not had proof of the situation yet, since we are going to Pomerini next month: well verify whether the content of the emails is true or not. In September 2011, the beekeepers were charged with the task of filling in and sending some forms of data collection, and they accomplished it. Nevertheless we noticed that the first forms they sent back were handwritten by the headmasters of different villages, as we expect them to be; since January, they are all signed by Huruma. We hope the beekeepers did not stop filling the forms in and let Huruma take their place, since according to the culture Hehe its important not to disappoint us: in this case, we hope the information is real. Well prove these facts when we are there, and then well complete this report. The translation from the Swahili is another issue concerning the forms: they have not been translated yet, consequently we are not able to seize the meaning of some of the comments. The information about the beehive given to Baraka Simika is also quite scarce. Meanwhile we are going to attach a form concerning the beehives of Kihesa Mgagao in January 2012, and the past year report which Huruma sent us. Tulime will take part in the First National Honey Fair from October 4th to 7th , together with Mawaki and Kilolo District in Dar es Salaam. It will be a great opportunity to get to know the world of beekeepers in Tanzania and to further both Tulime and Be(e)Togehter: for this aim, well provide flyers for free.

Mani dAfrica nel 2011

Village Nguruhe Kitowo Mawambala Lukani Ukumbi Kihesa Mgagao Mawaki Masege Mtitu

Hives visited 29 18 18 16 14 10 7 1 -

Quantity Quantity extracted honey extracted beewax 169,5 kg 116,5 kg 106 kg 76 kg 63 kg 36 kg 22 kg 4 kg 6 kg

3 kg

2 kg

593

kg honey collected in 2011

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