Beekeeping – Murajaga
Funded by Rappahannock-Fredericksburg Rotary Club
In the Andes of the Lambeyeque region where coffee is grown, it is important to promote activities that allow income diversification. As coffee is the main revenue-generating product, market price volatility causes producers' living conditions to get substantially worse when prices are low.
The beekeeping activity consisting of the breeding and exploitation of the worker bee, has great potential for the production of honey, pollen, wax, royal jelly, propolis also for nutritional purposes. Honey is a carbohydrate food of a very pleasant taste whose sugars are easily digested, it also contains small amounts of protein and vitamins. Royal jelly and pollen are very nutritious foods rich in protein, vitamins and minerals. It is a food in high demand by the population who like a healthy and nutritious diet.
Unfortunately, the gap between each of the communities and the beneficiary's decision not to handle the apiaries collectively but individually forced the project to be implemented in two adjoining communities: Tallapampa and Caracha that facilitated the technical assistance and management of the honey production process because it had a single extractor and had to be located in a community, in this case Tallapampa where the largest number of beneficiaries is located.
Honey with monofloral characteristics will be produced from October to January (coffee flowering season) and polyfloral from February to September (fruit tree flowering).
Beekeeping projects are being setup as a micro loan, families apply for a loan to start a beekeeping business and agree to pay the funds back within two years. At that time six more families will have the opportunity to apply for a beekeeping micro loan.
UPDATE:
The beekeeping project in the Andes of Lambayeque continues to function with opportunities for improvement.
The project data is limited but the producers are continuing with the project and will improve on their data capture:
Challenges:
1. The limited amount of flowering in the area, being an area with scarce water, flowering is scarce in summer, that allows the bees to migrate to areas where they find food. Several bees have escaped, but the producers have not lost the motivation to continue with the project, many of them are making efforts to buy more hives.
2. The goal to deliver 2 liters of honey x 5 harvests to create a fund in the same community that allows the delivery of beehives to massify makes producers reluctant to provide information on the harvest obtained will be carried forward to the next harvest cycle.
Future of Project:
Understanding the economic limitation of each family, the scarce harvest obtained, we believe that the most important thing is the motivation of the producers who see in this project not only an alternative to improve their income, improve their health, but also because of the pollinating role guaranteeing conservation and perpetuity of wild plants, balance in the environment.