Beekeeping is considered an integral part of agroecology as it supports pollination and enhances crop yields while maintaining the ecosystem health. It is also important to consider that sustainable beekeeping contributes towards attaining 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations to be achieved by 2030. It specifically impacts the goals of food security (SDG 2) and biodiversity (SDG 15). This has been hailed as triumph solution for agriculture and promotes sustainable food production while also building climate resilience especially for smallholders. The approach has emerged as one of the leading strategies to achieve sustainable agriculture, whereby holistic approaches such as diversified farming are adopted towards reorienting agricultural systems for farmers. However, over the past few decades, human activities such as land-use changes, intensive farming and the use of pesticides, pollution, alien pests, diseases and climate change have all had a negative impact on indigenous bees and pollinator populations. This has had a significant impact on our biodiversity and our food security.
The integration of agroecological practices with beekeeping provides a unique opportunity for women to promote sustainable farming methods that nurture biodiversity and generate income. Whether it is planting seeds and saplings that support bees and pollinators (commonly referred to as Bee flora) or sustainable honey extraction especially from rockbees or Apis dorsata, all these agroecological practices support sustainable livelihoods. Bee flora is essential to beekeeping/other pollinators since it offers bees and other pollinators a varied and adequate food supply. Bee health and productivity are supported by maintaining bee-friendly plants, which results in successful pollination services. It is necessary for protecting bee colonies and encouraging sustainable beekeeping methods.
Beekeeping programme: Under The Mango Tree runs an innovative beekeeping programme that focuses on indigenous bees among tribal communities in the states of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat since 2009. Initially, in these areas, due to lack of skilled personnel and training institutes, lack of knowledge of scientific beekeeping practices, unsustainable means of extracting honey, the lack of bee flora, the shortage of the bee colonies, and marketing problems, beekeeping was considered to be male specific and difficult.
The program’s focus is on indigenous and local bees, their health and preservation. While strengthening communities by imparting knowledge about bees, it seeks to empower women through a knowledge-driven, long-term professional training. It also spreads awareness of the value of all bee species as pollinators. The aim is to generate long-term income for the women beekeepers and their communities and capability to train other women as beekeepers. Their transmission skills are an essential part of the programme in order to maintain this knowledge and expertise.
Beekeeping as a gender inclusive activity
Traditionally, women have been actively engaged in various farming activities, including crop cultivation, livestock rearing and agroforestry. In many regions, women are primary food producers, especially in smallholder and subsistence farming systems. Since ages, Beekeeping has been an integral part of cultural heritage in India. Traditionally, honey has been used for medical ailments, culinary delights, and spiritual rituals. Women, in particular, have played key roles in harvesting honey and passing indigenous knowledge of beekeeping practices from one generation to the next. With this programme, a large number of women population have stepped out and opted to train as beekeepers to improve their livelihood status. These rural women’s associations have broken gender stereotypes, boosted gender equality and provided resources that facilitate family and community well-being. In the programme, female representation across all the project beekeepers is surpassing all expectations. “Investing in agricultural inputs is vital for any farmer family, as it serves as their main source of income. Among all the investments I have made, I believe beekeeping has been the most advantageous. It is easily accessible, affordable, and has no significant drawbacks, except for a few initial stings”, narrates Jasvanti Gharat, a 42-year-old Master Trainer (MT) from Baratpada village, Palghar district. Like Jasvanti, many women beekeepers have adopted various income-generating activities related to sustainable agriculture, such as beekeeping, honey processing, making inputs necessary for beekeeping like bee veils and value-added products, and selling organic produce.
Impact of Beekeeping programme on agricultural productivity
Currently, due to weather aberrations (changes in rainfall patterns, droughts, floods), resource use and land management practices, the crop yields have declined negatively affecting small farmers household income. Beekeeping is a proven practice recognised to improve farm productivity and livelihoods without significant capital costs. Pollination by bees ensures better yields and improved quality. By placing the bee boxes in the vicinity, the pollination efficiency has improved, subsequently increasing the crop yields. Bees being best pollinators for many crops transfer pollen between flowers, leading to cross-pollination and significantly enhanced crop yields and improved the quality of fruits and seeds. Bees are a natural resource that can be found in the environment. Beekeeping is not especially labour- intensive when done on a small scale, and it can be limited to times outside of peak work hours therefore, profitably supplement rural livelihoods, notably farming. Fostering bee flora as a major aspect of the Beekeeping programme has helped women beekeepers economically and ensured increase in bee population and agriculture yields.
Based on various agricultural surveys conducted for different projects in these three states, a substantial increase in yields of fruits and vegetables within one year of beekeeping have been reported.
The farmers say, “…post placing beeboxes on my farm, I saw very less pests…avoided pesticides. The crop production of cashew, nagli and mango approximately increased to 30%, marking an improvement in quality and quantity of crops, this has been the best production so far. To my fellow beekeepers, I would just say that having bees is important to improve the crop production”, says Madhu, a beekeeper from Mokhada block, Palghar district, Maharashtra.
“… I’m pleased with the positive effects on beekeeping. The honey harvest reached 20 kg, and Khursani (Niger), chana, and bajra (millet) yields increased significantly, benefiting my family. The training was informative for newcomers like me, and the post-training support was vital. Beekeeping eliminated the need for pesticides, saving Rs. 4,000 – Rs. 5,000 annually. With bees preventing pests, our crops thrive. Moreover, we now store surplus udad and tur dal, serving as a safety net for emergency cash needs or home consumption”, shares Rekha Padvi, 28 years, beekeeper, from Avdha village of Dharampur block in Valsad district.
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Nutritious food systems through Kitchen Gardens Crops like fruits, vegetables, nuts and oilseeds depend on bees for pollination, which directly impacts the quality and quantity of the harvest. Mokhada – a case of Kitchen Gardens as Sustainable Food Systems: In Mokhada, the percentage of malnourished population is high. The children are deprived of education, nutrition and good health. Large numbers of people are socially excluded from mainstream. We know that vegetables play a vital role in improving household nutrition. Kitchen gardens were designed as integral component of the bee-flora initiative of UTMT Society. The main objective in introducing kitchen gardens during summer was to build on beekeeping and ensuring a continuous supply of vegetables for families during the dry periods of the year. Kitchen gardens focusing on vegetable cultivation are cost-effective, practical and easily can meet the balanced dietary requirements of rural households, besides supplementing family income. Under The Mango Tree Society (UTMT Society) trained women farmers in developing kitchen garden plots- designing the plots, utilizing household grey water (water from washing utensils and bathing). Lesser/ or no dependence on chemical fertilizers and pesticides automatically made the it an environment friendly initiative. The choice of vegetables was made based on the prevailing food habits and climatic conditions of within the larger goal of ensuring better nutrition. An attempt was made to provide the project farmers with an assorted mix of vegetables for a considerable period. In February 2020, women farmers from Mokhada block, began their training in developing kitchen garden plots through an exposure visit to the neighbouring Talasari block. “Before project intervention, our kitchen garden set-up was scattered and unplanned. We didn’t really consider it for sourcing vegetables continuously for household consumption and mainly practiced it during monsoon and winter, till the time when water was available”, says a woman farmer-beekeeper from Mokhada block, Palghar district, Maharashtra. In August 2019, UTMT society conducted awareness programs on beekeeping and in October 2019, nine women farmers got involved in a 2 day basic training in beekeeping. Initiating kitchen garden intervention, women were trained and seeds were distributed. (phase-I). Seven out of nine women came together to develop a common Group Kitchen Garden in a plot of size 35*35 sq. ft. as a pilot in 2020. “To reduce the chances of failure, we decided to take it up in group, though we belong to different SHGs, we came together for our families’ welfare”, says one of the members. The group divided duties amongst themselves to maintain the kitchen garden and for the first harvest decided to utilize vegetables grown for self-consumption, primarily. Further, keen to scale it up commercially, the group consulted UTMTS more frequently to ultimately reduce our migration frequency from the village in search of work and income. “Especially, during the lockdown due to COVID, kitchen garden was the only source of our vegetable supply. It was a difficult period when the daily wage from labor was lost and we had no money to buy directly from market”, says a woman farmer signifying the importance of kitchen garden intervention. With restrictions in the supply of vegetables to interior villages the kitchen garden produce was shared with those needy belonging to neighbouring families in the hamlet. The harvest of Group Kitchen Garden continued till June 2020 (for phase-I). During the next monsoon (between July and August 2020), using their own home-grown seeds, the women continued developing kitchen garden plots in following winter of 2020 and in later years up-scaled it to sell the produce in local market at Mokhada. Post the preliminary implementation in 2020, the seven women planned to expand the activity to two separate plots (of 25*30 sq. ft. each in 2021. In second phase, the produce was sold in local market and approximately 30% of the produce was utilized for home-consumption by members. Presently, all nine women trained in beekeeping are engaged in kitchen garden activity along with beekeeping and have formed three different groups (with group size of three). Kitchen garden combined with beekeeping is seen as not just a micro-solution. The women farmers are also efficiently engaged in maintenance of filled beeboxes kept on kitchen garden plots with regular technical guidance from UTMT society staff. The women collectively share, “we derived our motivation from bees, to work collectively each day. The presence of bees did impact the overall harvest, we harvested 20%-30% more than what we had estimated”. A member shares, “Beekeeping combined with kitchen garden has opened new avenues of livelihood for us. We now regularly set-up a stall in Mokhada market to sell the kitchen garden produce, which has increased our income”. The women’ group look up to beekeeping and kitchen garden interventions as not only as livelihood opportunities but also as a way to get in touch with their own indigenous cultivation methods and traditional food habits. They say, “with beekeeping we are tracing back our original association with bees and nature that is more sustainable and symbiotic”. The women lastly mention, “before kitchen garden (intervention) foregoing certain vegetables from our regular diets was our routine as we neither had any means to source them from market- as it would incur expenses and neither we had any direct access to them- as we were not cultivating it. Kitchen garden intervention has supported us on all fronts- nutrition and livelihoods”. Kitchen gardens have helped in increasing household income either by sale of the food products grown in the gardens or by the consumption of the same food items that the families would have otherwise purchased from markets using a significant portion of the family income. While significantly improving nutritional access, promotes entrepreneurship amongst women farmers. Dhanshree Chavan, Programme Manager, dhanshree@utmtsociety.org Pramod Chavhan, Sr. Programme Associate, pramod@utmtsociety.org |
Bee Keeping Programme’s impact on Rural women
Building human capacities: The programme trains women in sustainable beekeeping, relying on indigenous bee species to support their skills and knowledge. Then, it develops technical support by building a network of female beekeepers that are supported in setting up bee boxes. Furthermore, they receive handholding support at farm gate by the technical cadre employed by the organisation. If interested, beneficiaries are trained in Advanced modules in beekeeping and appointed as Master trainers and receive monthly stipend. The beneficiaries are provided with bee flora which they cultivate in their own land. Access to modern beekeeping technologies, trainings, financial assistance, handholding support at farm gate round the clock, and market linkages have helped them to improve their beekeeping practices and increase their income. The women beekeepers in this programme built a collaborative relationship around beekeeping with other members of family which helps them to continue the process and overcome any hardships that they experience.
Building Incomes: “Beekeeping project has added approximately Rs.2,000 to my monthly income. Prior to this, I had always feared bees and did not know about beekeeping at all. After my participation in one of the exposure visits conducted by society in nearby village, I saw another women beekeeper handling bees, which inspired me. Today, I am in-charge for the maintenance of bee- apiary established in village which helps me in meeting the household expenses and supporting my husband”, mentions Paru Malavkar, 34 years, Master Trainer from Aaptolpada village, Palghar district, Maharashtra.
Training others: “..Getting trained as beekeeper, I always wanted to reach maximum women farmers in my area and train them in beekeeping, as I believed this practice supported agricultural yields and ultimately our pockets. I always feel women play a lead role in preserving these natural resources and conserve the declining bee population”, says Surekha Pawar from Gujarat who works as a Master Trainer (advanced trainee in beekeeping) and supports 20 women farmers in her region.
Conclusion
Based on several case studies, we can come to the conclusion that Beekeeping plays a crucial role in restoring and resurrecting rural economic activity, particularly for women. Increased economic activity would help address socio-economic issues such as unemployment and poverty.
In beekeeping, a variety of by-products are produced in addition to the primary product – honey, such as bee wax which contains more than 300 molecules and are rich in vitamins, as well as medicinal (healing).“..it is important for me as a women beekeeper to encourage other women in my village to embrace beekeeping, as I believe it is a suitable activity for women, which provides cash in hand. I wish to change the traditional dependency on family for finances and start saving and supporting my family through the income generated by selling bee colonies, bee flora, honey, etc.” says Poonam Bhoye, 32 years, beekeeper from Nadagdhari village, in Dharampur block of Valsad district (Gujarat).
Women beekeepers thereby, play a crucial role in supporting agroecology through beekeeping efficiently in a sustainable manner. In this context, strengthening the women cadre and intensifying opportunities with respect to beekeeping programme in order to safeguard the beekeeping practices and declining bee population is essential. Maintaining beekeeping industry in rural areas plays an important role in supporting local economies and in ensuring the continuity of the ecological services that honey bees provide for a healthy environment.
References
- Hanley, N.; Breeze, T.D.; Ellis, C.; Goulson, D. Measuring the economic value of pollination services: Principles, evidence and knowledge gaps. Ecosyst. Serv. 2015, 14, 124–132.
- Patel, V.; Pauli, N.; Biggs, E.; Barbour, L.; Boruff, B. Why bees are critical for achieving sustainable development. Ambio 2021, 50, 49–59.
- Goulson, D., Nicholls, E., Botias, C., and Rotheray, E.L.. 2015. Bee declines driven by combined stress from parasites, pesticides, and lack of flowers. Science: 347: 1255957
Natasha S Dogra,
Programme officer,
Under The Mango Tree Society
318, Unique Industrial estate,
Bombay Dyeing compound, Twin Tower Lane,
Prabhadevi Mumbai, 400025,
Maharashtra, India.
Email: natasha@utmtsociety.org
