From Bee keeping, Night Sophia has found a source of income

For a long time, JESE has been working to protect the forested areas in Kyenjojo, specifically Matiri and Itwara. But restoration also comes with a question of alternative sources of livelihood for those who encroach on these forests. As an alternative source of livelihood, JESE with partners like Forests of the World, has looked at apiary as one of the businesses that communities surrounding forests can engage in to earn a living and get out of the forests.

Here is the story of one of the bee keepers and a business mentor that JESE has worked with to promote the business of bee keeping in Kyenjojo district.

My name is Sophia and I work here in Kyenjojo town council. I’ve been a beekeeper for over 10 years now. I like bee keeping because I started it a long time ago and I have come a long way.

Everything around me is Beekeeping and honey is my main source of income. The day when I met JESE, I had had an intervention with them some time back, like 10 years ago. But now they wanted me to meet their beekeepers and help them on value addition because I have walked a long journey in beekeeping.

Mainly, I am a practical trainer, I have an apiary myself and I do harvest myself and get out the honey from one level to another. I helped groups to start adding value to their honey. I helped them to see that if you have comb honey, how you can turn it into a fine product which is honey itself. After getting the honey, there is another product called beeswax stage 2 from where we get candles.

They also learnt how to make propolis – a gum substance that bees use to seal holes on a bee hive.
This substance is collected by bees from any tree that gives sap and trees that have flowers with a
gum substance like guavas and avocados. Bees visit all these trees to collect this product that is medicinal and good for cough, flu and it also treats stomach complications. We also make a product
called Propolis Ointment which is for external use only like on skin rashes.

The groups which I trained were mainly youth groups, and they are now doing so well in bee keeping especially in value addition. They produce their own honey and no longer sell comb honey.

After harvesting their honey, they process it very well through all the stages, pack it so well and now put it out in the market for sale. Worth an investment. Bee keeping is worth investing in. If I can give an example of myself, I started with some little money with around 10 jerry cans of honey. I started small with half a stall but for some two good years now,

I have moved. I can now sell 10 jerry cans in like six or nine months. Every month when I balance my records, I see that I can make an interest that is almost half of what I invest in.
Honey has quick money because every time I am moving, I carry some in my bag and in a taxi
someone needs honey, and the same happens when in a bus or when I enter a public office.

I thank JESE for the intervention because I was identified as an entrepreneur by JESE. These
people found me as a simple entrepreneur. My honey wasn’t labelled yet. Someone called Faith Tusubira visited me here with James Okwiri and they told me that my products were nice but what was lacking was the Branding. They encouraged me to have a product that would be competitive on the market and can inspire other people to also do the same.

I really thank JESE and Forests of the World for this great work. I request them to give me more knowledge and training to enable me to excel in this business and be able to help other groups overcome their challenges.