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SHELTER IN A changing climate

With erratic weather patterns and unreliable harvests from rain-fed agriculture, some small-scale farmers in Zambia are turning to beekeeping to outsmart climate change and keep up their incomes

By UNDP in Zambia

November 27^th, 2019

Climate change effects

For a small-scale farmer who has repeatedly suffered poor maize harvests due to unpredictable rainfall, Emma Makwelele is turning to beekeeping to create a new and steady source of income.

Makwelele usually grows maize, groundnuts and sweet potatoes when the rainfall over Zambia’s Rufunsa District was still reliable in the rainy season, showering the soil with enough moisture for crops to survive until the monsoon. But this year, a prolonged dry spell linked to climate change destroyed much of her harvest and dried up water sources.

“We lost almost everything. We just ate the little that was harvested. Nothing was left to keep or to sell,” she lamented. “Farming is hard these days because it is difficult to know when the rains will come.”

With 5 beehives each, Emma Makwelele (in yellow blouse) and her colleagues are certain that they can turn beekeeping into a rural enterprise and climb the ladder of the apiculture industry in Zambia.

Makwelele’s story is typical of many small-scale farmers across large swathes of rural Zambia, where unreliable harvests from rain-fed agriculture has put food security at risk for farming communities.

This year, Zambia suffered one of the worsts El Nino-induced dry conditions, the poorest rainfall season recorded in the country since 1981, according to meteorological data. The impact on agriculture has left 2.3 million Zambians, mainly rural population without enough to eat, according to the country's recent Humanitarian Response Plan, which estimates at least US$89.5 million is needed to provide life-saving and early recovery assistance to people in need.

Undaunted by the effects of climate change, the 34-year-old mother of five has an ambitious plan: to turn beekeeping into a rural enterprise.

Unlocking opportunities

Makwelele is one of 192 small-scale farmers (including 96 women) from 12 agricultural camps who were trained in beekeeping (organic honey production) and supported with 960 modern beehives under a UNDP-led partnership with the Zambian government through the Ministry of Agriculture. The 12 agricultural camps were selected for their potential as key drivers of rural employment and income generation in Rufunsa District.

With support from the SCRALA project, these mostly single mothers, are on the verge of turning their lives around - one step at a time. Their self-esteem has increased as they will now be able to pay for their children’s school fees

The initiative is part of a USD$137m funding from the Zambian Government, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the title ‘Strengthening Climate Resilience of Agricultural Livelihoods in Agro-Ecological Regions I and II in Zambia (SCRALA). The SCRALA project supports resilient agricultural livelihoods in the face of unpredictable rainfall, increasing droughts and floods in five of Zambia’s 10 provinces. It also promotes diversification practices to improve food security and income generation.

Maria Del Sol Moure Pena, UNV Alternative Livelihood Specialist under the SCRALA project, giving the women tips on how to balance the modern beehives in the tree.

“Women who account for 50 percent of the beneficiaries are expected to generate valuable supplementary income from honey production, which will contribute to empower them economically. This will not only result in improving their material conditions, but it will also help them to reinforce their sense of dignity and worth in times of crisis and enhance their participation in household decision-making,” says Lionel Laurens, UNDP Resident Representative in Zambia.

The initiative is in support of the government’s efforts to help small-scale farmers build resilience to climate change and stimulate rural economic growth, Laurens said.

“Empowering women - who play an integral role in Zambia’s rural economy can pull up entire communities and help accelerate the fight against rural poverty,” says the Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary, Songowayo Zyambo.

Zyambo said the Government of the Republic of Zambia supports the promotion of complementary rural income generating activities aimed at spurring rural development.

Aiming higher

Makwelele is not alone in the belief that beekeeping could be a successful business opportunity to ward-off climate change in her district – yet she’s one of the few exploring its full potential.

With just five bee hives each, she and more than 190 other smallholder beekeepers are hopeful that they would climb the ladder of the apiculture industry in Zambia.

"I will be very happy the day I see our honey being packaged and sold in top supermarkets in the country," says a beaming Anna Phiri from the Chiyota Multipurpose Cooperative.

Another beekeeper, Esther Sitali, from the Malundo Cooperative is equally ambitious. “My plan is to open up a honey shop where I can sell high-quality organic honey,” she revealed.

Selista Banda is another beneficiary of the initiative whose ambitions are not only profit-based. She aims to plant the appropriate trees around her hives which would provide more forage or food for the bees – and this would ultimately result in richer honey harvests, providing a financial incentive for restoring the environment.

market potential for honey

Zambia has an estimated 30,000 smallholder beekeepers, concentrated mainly in North-western, Western, Central and Copperbelt Provinces.

North-western Province is the major honey and beeswax producing area in Zambia, accounting for 90 to 95 percent of domestic production and nearly 100 percent of honey exports to the United Kingdom which is the largest importer of honey from Zambia, followed by Norway, South Africa, Botswana, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and most recently China.

The country's annual production of honey is approximately 2,000 tons, and access to these lucrative markets is expected to propel production to 10,000 tons annually, according to the Center for International Forestry Research.

Despite its huge export potential, experts say the industry needs increased investment in research and technology. With the export and domestic market potentials for the product, beekeeping is likely to contribute to poverty reduction with emphasis on women and youth empowerment.

“Rufunsa District has the habitats required by bees and is a conducive environment where a profitable honey industry could flourish through proper training and access to markets,” says Musonda Lunkuntwe, the District Administrative Officer.

Aiming to tap into the export and domestic market potentials as a way of boosting the income of climate-stressed farmers, the SCRALA project is partnering with BeeSweet, a local group in the honey industry, which will involve an additional 5,000 smallholder beekeepers from rural communities in the value chain - from training and mentoring to improved productivity: harvesting, processing, packaging and marketing honey products.

The group conducts functional literacy classes for the benefit of beekeepers in the agricultural camps. They are being taught leadership, entrepreneurial and good management skills, especially basics of book-keeping.

Besides beekeeping, the project works with the Ministry of Agriculture to encourage farmers to grow drought-resistant crops such as millet, sorghum and cassava. The project is also supporting a flagship program of the Zambia Meteorological Department which provides regular weather forecast and agriculture advisory for farming communities aimed at minimising the impact of adverse weather on crops and boosting agricultural production.

Mpanshya Camp Extension Officer, Obrien Mwalishinka (far left) and UNV Research Assistant, Garry Chola discuss the beekeeping manual with some female beekeepers from the Camp in Rufunsa District.

Bolstering women’s autonomy

Back in Chiyota Agricultural Camp, the women of the Chiyota Multipurpose Cooperative are already talking about pooling their profits in a shared savings fund from which members can borrow money at low interest rates. The aim is to increase the number of hives each farmer would oversee to 20 per person to further boost household income in a community where most women aren’t allowed a say in family finances.

With 20 beehives, according to BeeSweet, a farmer would earn about US$600.00 annually from the honey. This considerable increase in household income could make a huge impact on the quality of housing, food, clothing and school fees.

Like other women in rural communities, the beneficiaries are small-scale farmers whose incomes cannot stretch to cover emergencies - like school fees, a sick family member or losses caused by disasters.

Moreover, they face an uphill battle to access loans from banks, leaving them unable to boost yields, diversify into new crops, or stay afloat when hit by extreme weather conditions fuelled by climate change.

Given the unique role of women in agriculture and food provisioning, and their unique vulnerabilities to climate change, the project focuses dedicated efforts towards building climate resilience for female-headed houses and rural enterprises.

“When women have an income of their own, it gives them greater advantage on how to raise their children and helps them take the lead in building their own future,” says Maziko Phiri, the SCRALA Project Manager.

Upbeat about the initiative, the Provincial Agricultural Coordinator for Lusaka Province, Pascal Chipasha, lauded the project for providing alternative income generating activities for rural dwellers, saying the income generated from beekeeping would enable the beneficiaries to cover domestic and personal expenses such as food, clothing, healthcare and school fees as climate change brings harsher weather.

An Extension Officer from the Ministry of Agriculture is seen here encouraging farmers to grow drought-resistant crops such as millet, sorghum and cassava. Photo: Garry Chola/UNDP SCRALA Project

Community outreach on livelihood activities including beekeeping. Photo: Garry Chola/UNDP SCRALA Project.

A glimmer of hope

In the face of a significant rainfall deficit which, according to the country's Humanitarian Response Plan, is expected to worsen food insecurity in Zambia, Makwelele, Sitali, Phiri and Banda know that if all else fails, they now have beekeeping as a safety net to help them outsmart climate change and keep up their income thanks to a partnership between the Government of the Republic of Zambia and a coalition of UN agencies(UNDP, WFP and FAO) with funding from the Green Climate Fund.