2021 - 2024
Opportunities for honey
and cocoa farmer
Vision
By raising their incomes and establishing sustainable livelihoods for cocoa farmers, beekeepers, and other participants in these value chains, the project seeks to reduce poverty among small-holder farmers in the honey and cocoa industries.
Approach
The project supports cocoa and honey producers by giving them access to advisory services and markets for their products. By enhancing their knowledge and skills, smallholders are able to increase the production volume and improve the quality of their products. At the same time, sales are increased as farmer organizations develop negotiating skills, establish stable relationships with buyers, and access new markets. Consequently, smallholder families are able to generate sufficient income by effectively integrating into the market system.
Story
The story of Samuel Wabyona
Samuel Wabyona, a 28-year-old smallholder and beekeeper from Kasenyi in Masindi District, is a living example of how targeted support can change a life. Samuel owns 40 beehives, 80% of which are populated. He has been dedicated to beekeeping for five years, but the journey has not always been easy.
Before participating in the Dynamic Markets for Farmers project, Samuel struggled with numerous challenges. Poor location choices for his beehives, high swarming rates among the bees and inadequate harvesting methods affected both the quantity and quality of his honey production.
Through the project, Samuel received training aimed at improving honey production. This training covered topics such as good colony management, hive colonisation rates, bee swarming behaviour, fire hazards, pests, good post-harvest treatment methods, access to modern beekeeping equipment, financial management and market access for beekeepers in the district.
The training courses were conducted by community-based beekeeping trainers trained by the district. After completing their training, these trainers in turn trained local beekeepers, with the district's entomology team providing ongoing technical support.
Thanks to the training, Samuel was able to significantly increase the productivity of his apiary. He learned how to better position his hives, reduce swarming behaviour and harvest honey more effectively. As a result, the productivity of his hives increased from an average of 5 kg of honey per hive to 10 kg per hive per harvest. This increased his income to CHF 770 per year.
Samuel plans to expand his apiary to 100 hives and plant more trees around his apiary to provide food for the bees. He is passionate about beekeeping and encourages other young people to take up the craft.
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Impact
7,200 Cocoa farmers (90 percent of the 8,000 in the project overall) increase their pro-duction and earn an average of CHF 255 more annually
3,150 beekeepers (90 percent of 3,500) increase their production and earn an average of CHF 145 more annually
300 new jobs can be created for cocoa farmers and beekeepers
All participants have secure access to market information, financial products and services
Partner
Description
Facilitating access to advisory services and markets for smallholder farmers in order to improve their knowledge and skills.
Extreme poverty affects one in five Ugandans. Over one-third of the workforce earns less than $1.90 USD per day. 67% of Ugandans are employed in the country's agricultural economy. Cocoa and honey are designated as strategic priorities in the agricultural sector's strategic plan. Even though the nation has the capacity to produce 70,000 tons of cocoa annually, only 30,000 tons are exported. Uganda relies heavily on cocoa as a source of foreign exchange.
Subsistence farming is the primary basis for beekeeping production in the honey industry, and older beekeepers who are not interested in investing to boost output dominate the market. Of the 500,000 tonnes of honey that could be produced annually in the country, only 56,000 tonnes are produced by the roughly 1 million beekeepers.
The primary cause of the market supply gap in both industries is the restricted availability of efficient production techniques. The project tackles the lack of production volume and quality, inadequate agricultural expertise, and opaque business practices in the cocoa and honey value chains.