Beekeeping with Indigenous People in the Amazon

Coronavirus is having a devastating impact on indigenous peoples throughout the Amazon. Indigenous communities are extremely vulnerable to the pandemic due to persistent inequality, discrimination, and lack of access to health care.

With a total population of only 600, the Maijuna are one of the smallest and most vulnerable indigenous groups in the Peruvian Amazon. When the pandemic first struck Peru, we sprang into action and worked with the Maijuna to keep their four communities closed, become educated on the virus and the importance of isolation, and reduce the difficulty of sheltering in place.

Our work included providing two months of food and supplies to 104 families in the four Maijuna communities (Sucusari, Nueva Vida, Puerto Huamán, and San Pablo de Totolla) to allow them to shelter in place. We also provided pandemic prevention and relief kits to each community, which included lifesaving medicines, medical supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE) for community members and health technicians, educational materials, and gasoline for medical emergencies. In addition to helping families in the four Maijuna communities, we also provided food and supplies to an additional 71 Maijuna families that live in the city of Iquitos as well as the towns of Mazán, El Estrecho and Tutapishco.

All of these materials and supplies helped the Maijuna get through the beginning of the pandemic when things were especially dangerous, precarious and unknown. And, although the virus has now made it to the Maijuna communities (like most other parts of the world), we are very happy to report that no Maijuna individuals have perished from COVID-19 to date, which is a testament to the success of the prevention and relief efforts that we were able to implement together with the Maijuna. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and provide pandemic relief and support as needed to Maijuna families and their communities.

Moving forward, our number one priority during these unprecedented and challenging times is to continue to help support the health and well-being of the Maijuna. That said, we are committed to getting back to work on our community-based stingless beekeeping project and are developing comprehensive plans with the Maijuna communities to safely and securely make this happen. Please help us to continue to support the Maijuna during these challenging times – all donations, big and small, make a real and tangible difference to the health and well-being of the Maijuna. Thanks, and stay safe and healthy!

Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon, including our partners, the Maijuna, are extremely vulnerable to the pandemic due to persistent inequality, discrimination, and lack of access to health care. Our partner communities are currently sheltering in place to avoid the introduction of COVID-19 to their ancestral lands.

OnePlanet’s immediate focus has shifted to safely delivering essential medicines, personal protective equipment, food, and supplies to Maijuna families that they would otherwise risk leaving their communities to procure. Through our pandemic relief and the Maijuna’s community-organized efforts to shelter in place, the current front-lines of sustainable development are keeping communities healthy and safe from the pandemic.

Though sheltering in place and the restriction of commerce mean that workshops and market activities are on hold, Maijuna beekeepers continue to tend their hives. The dozens of beekeeping workshops and hundreds of home visits for technical support that OnePlanet has provided in recent years have prepared the Maijuna beekeepers to independently maintain and expand their hives. The hundreds of hives tended in Maijuna communities continue to improve local access to honey and pollen, which are traditionally important medicines. Just before the pandemic, the Maijuna reached record high hive numbers and honey harvest. Due to the technical capacity of the beekeepers we have trained, the activity’s roots in Maijuna culture, and the bountiful harvest last season, the future of stingless beekeeping is incredibly bright.

As soon as it is safe, we are eager to continue advancing sustainable development in the Maijuna communities through stingless beekeeping as an alternative income source. As beekeepers master management techniques and honey production increases, the project’s next steps include building capacity in the collective business model and supporting beekeepers’ connection to retail partnerships for honey sales.