Bee keeping, the traditional Rwandan way

In Nyakinama village, 7 km outside Musanze town, bee keeping is a widespread practice, with almost every family boasting some 2-3 hives in their gardens. Carried on across generations in Rwanda, bee keeping plays a major role in the livelihoods of the rural communities for its medicinal value, as well as lucrative income-generating activity, and in some communities, for brewing local beer. However, this trend is rapidly changing and community members are increasingly taking up beekeeping as a business enterprise. Bees swarm into a hive. (Moses Opobo) One such community is the Abunzi Ubumwe Bee Keepers’ Cooperative in Nyakinama village. Started in 2002, the cooperative boasts 20 members -12 men and 8 women. “We started the project because there was a ready market for honey in Rwanda, both here in this village and Rwanda in general, yet there were no people producing sufficient quantities for the market,” explains Leon Nkurunziza, the president of the cooperative. He observes that at the time of starting the cooperative, most of them were producing honey at subsistence level just for their home consumption, and only selling a little surplus. Today, the honey that they harvest is primarily for sale, although the locals also use it as a table meal, and for medicinal purposes. But it’s mostly for sale, since the demand is always there and the prices are good. Abunzi boasts100 bee hives in total. The hives are in themselves a spectacle to behold, designed differently from the conventional method of hoisting the boxes in tree canopies. Here, the hives are set to the volcanic rocks on the ground, and Nkurunziza explains that this is for two different reasons: The first is to ease the process of setting up the hives and harvesting, since it does not involve the cumbersome and potentially risky task of climbing onto trees. This is especially important since almost half of the cooperative’s 20 members are women. The hives are set to the ground. (Moses Opobo) Besides, climbing trees has traditionally been viewed as taboo for women. Also because they are situated next to a swathe of the Buhanga natural rainforest, which is a natural habitat for the bees. The bees just file in from the forest’s dense canopy into the nearby hives. Those that hung their hives in trees are usually looking to attract stray bees flying overhead from as far as possible. The coop members make the hives themselves, by cutting tree trunks and hollowing them, then sealing off the ends with dung, only leaving small holes through which the bees can enter. When the hives are dry and ready to use, they kindle a fire that burns to produce smoke at the holes, which smoke attracts the bees. Harvest depends on seasons, explains Nkurunziza, with more yields expected during the dry season when there is plenty of food for the bees than in the rainy season. During the rainy season, the bees sting more because they are hungry. Hives set to dry after being built. (Moses Opobo) They have two major harvests, all of which fall in the dry season when yields are higher; February-April, and again July-September. The size of harvest also depends on number of bees in a hive. Generally, yields vary in size, and one hive could yield anything from 1 kilogram to five kilos of honey. Sometimes, there is nothing in a hive. A kilo goes for about Rwf3,000. It is a hot Friday mid-morning when we visited, and touring the bee hives under eucalyptus trees, one cannot miss the strong and consistent buzzing sounds of thousands of bees hovering overhead or around hives. We ask if the bees won’t sting, but we are assured that we are safe. Apparently, bees don’t like anything that shakes or ruffles them. Avoid shaking or disturbing their habitat unless when harvesting. The coop members derive the market for most of their honey from Kigali and other larger towns. The other major markets are honey processing plants based in Kigali who refine and pack it in different quantities for resale. Much as the cooperative is thriving, however, the low yields recorded are a major drawback that has largely been attributed to the dependence on traditional as opposed to modern bee keeping practices. As we moved around the rocky farm with a handful of tourists, the major plea from coop members was that for funding to help them buy modern bee keeping gear. They talked of special hives from Kenya called Kenya Top Bar, whose price they said was out of their reach. Each Kenya Top Bar hive goes for about Rwf40,000.

Lifestyle

Bee keeping, the traditional Rwandan way