Safeguard Bees and Beekeepers in Madagascar

In early June, the Anosy Ministry of Agriculture held the inaugural rural livelihoods fair, celebrating a range of local businesses, government initiatives and charities that work to improve the financial stability of rural communities in the region. This gave the Renitantely team the chance to create a buzz around the activities we’ve been doing with beekeepers over the last two years!

The fair was held in the town square over four days, with more than 30 different organisations hosting stalls exhibiting their work. SEED Madagascar was invited to attend as part of the Platform de Miel Anosy; a collaborative network of private sector and civil society organisations with the shared aim of utilising beekeeping as a method of generating money in remote communities. We have been working with the Platform to improve beekeepers’ links to formal markets that give them a fair price for their honey and beeswax, as well as developing a regional strategy for combating varroa – a parasitic mite that causes the collapse of bee colonies across the globe!

To celebrate the brilliant progress that so many beekeepers have made whilst being part of Project Renitantely, SEED arranged for exceptional beekeepers from each community to represent the project at the fair. The beekeepers who had showed continuous motivation and had actively improved their knowledge and beekeeping skills while involved in Project Renitantely, were selected. By coming to the fair, these beekeepers gained the experience of selling their honey and beeswax directly to a formal market while also getting the chance to speak with other Platform de Miel Anosy members about the opportunities and pitfalls of beekeeping in the region.

Project Renitantely shared a stall with another of SEED’s sustainable livelihood projects – Stitch Sainte Luce. Stitch operates in one of the same communities as Project Renitantely training women in producing and selling high quality embroidery products while teaching them to independently run the business. The beekeepers and Stitch women ran the stall for the duration of the event, collaborating by selling one another’s products and showcasing their respective projects. To decorate the stall the beekeepers spent the day before the fairs opening displaying the Visual Learning Aids used in project trainings and the beekeeping equipment they had previously invested in.

The fair kicked off with all 32 organisations marching in a parade through the centre of town with colourful costumes, banners and plenty of dancing! Once everyone had arrived at the town square a speech by Anosy Director of Agriculture officially opened the four-day event. During the fair, representatives from each organisation delivered a speech showcasing their work. The beekeepers nominated the President of the Fara Fara Vatambe beekeeping association to speak on behalf of Project Renitantely, which he delivered alongside the President of the Stitch cooperative and the Community Liaison Officer. For both the beekeepers and Stitch women, this was the first experience of presenting their projects, giving them the chance to speak in front of representatives from the European Union, national and regional ministries.

At the Anosy rural livelihoods fair, Project Renitantely beekeepers celebrated their work over the last two years while getting an insight into formal markets for their honey and beeswax. Find out more about how SEED are working with rural beekeepers to increase their income and improve their financial security here!