For generations, the Batwa of southwestern Uganda depended on forests for their livelihood, including hunting and collecting wild honey.
Today, some members of the community are turning that traditional knowledge into a commercial enterprise by keeping bees in hives and selling honey and other bee products.
The shift is providing an income-generating opportunity for a community that has faced landlessness and economic exclusion since its eviction from ancestral forests.
Through the Bees for Batwa project, supported by UK-based development organisation Bees for Development, the Uganda National Apiculture Development Organisation (TUNADO) began training Batwa households in commercial beekeeping in 2019.
Mr Jawash Vira Arinanye, a TUNADO project coordinator and apiary extension worker, says the community was relatively easy to introduce to beekeeping because of its longstanding relationship with nature.
The Batwa traditionally collected honey from tree trunks and anthills in the forest. The project has helped them move from hunting wild colonies to making and managing their own hives.
The project operates in communities including Rukeri and Nyakacence in Kisoro, and Murubindi and Karengyere in Rubanda District.
The Batwa were evicted from their ancestral forests in the early 1990s following the gazetting of Bwindi Impenetrable and Mgahinga gorilla national parks.
Many subsequently settled alongside Bakiga communities, with some families receiving about half an acre of land. Others depend on casual labour on neighbours’ farms.
Mr Arinanye says land-use agreements involving landlords have helped create space for Batwa beekeepers to establish apiaries.
The arrangements have also enabled the Batwa to share their knowledge of hive weaving and beekeeping with neighbouring communities.
Farmers, including Bakiga, are trained in modern beekeeping practices to improve production and honey quality.
Choosing an apiary site
Mr Arinanye says the location of an apiary is critical to successful beekeeping.
‘Farmers are advised to place hives in shaded areas away from highways, power stations and industrial sites. The site should also be close to flowering plants such as coffee, sunflower, fruit trees and eucalyptus, which provide bees with nectar,’ he says.
Farmers should clear dry leaves around the apiary to reduce the risk of fire and ensure a clean source of water is available nearby.
A Kenya Top Bar (KTB) hive costs between Shs120,000 and Shs200,000 and can produce between 15kg and 30kg of honey annually.
It is suitable for small-scale and organic farmers because honey can be harvested without a honey extractor.
A Langstroth hive costs between Shs250,000 and Shs400,000 and can produce between 30kg and 50kg annually. It uses movable frames and is more suitable for farmers targeting commercial production.
Farmers are also trained to use protective clothing, smokers, hive tools and modern harvesting equipment to protect themselves and maintain honey quality.
Market opportunity
TUNADO has established indicative market prices, with raw or processed quality honey fetching between Shs15,000 and Shs20,000 per kilogram at farm gate, while retail prices range from Shs20,000 and Shs30,000.
Beeswax sells for between Shs10,000 and Shs15,000 per kilogramme.
Mr Arinanye says the project has also introduced some Batwa farmers to stingless bees.
Five Batwa beekeepers have been trained to domesticate stingless bee colonies, which the community traditionally harvested from the ground.
The farmers have spent the past two years learning to identify colonies in the forest and transfer them to controlled environments.
Stingless bee honey is highly valued for its medicinal properties and can fetch about Shs100,000 per litre.
Mr Wilber Kaira, 67, from Murubindi in Rubanda District, started beekeeping at the age of 10 after learning honey hunting from his father.
He initially kept bees for household consumption using rudimentary methods.
After realising that hives produced better yields, he expanded from one hive to six, then 10, and eventually 167 hives.
Mr Kaira belongs to Batwa Bakiga Tukole Hamwe Beekeeping Association, which has 39 members.
Last year, he harvested about 210kg of honey.
He sold part of the produce and used some of the proceeds to buy potato seed for his half-acre farm.
He says local shopkeepers buy honey for about Shs10,000 per kilogramme, but members are increasingly bulking their honey for sale to processors.
Challenges remain
Landlessness remains one of the biggest challenges facing Batwa beekeepers.
It also limits their access to materials such as bamboo, reeds and sticks used to make traditional hives.
Other constraints include the high cost of protective clothing, hive tools and honey-harvesting equipment.
Climate change is another concern because changing weather patterns can affect flowering cycles and, consequently, the availability of nectar for bees.
Despite these challenges, Batwa women and men are increasingly taking leadership roles in the sector.
Ms Jane Nyirangano, a leader of a small Batwa beekeeping group in Nyakacence, is training other members and advocating for greater recognition of their work.
She hopes the community will eventually move beyond selling raw honey into value addition.
Five steps
– Choose the right site – Shaded, quiet location away from roads, power lines and industrial areas.
– Provide food for bees – Keep hives near coffee, eucalyptus, sunflower and fruit trees.
– Select the right hive – KTB hives suit small-scale farmers; Langstroth hives favour commercial production.
-Protect the colony – Use protective clothing, smokers and proper hive tools.
-Plan the market – Sell individually or bulk honey through farmer groups to access processors and better prices.