As locals take up apiculture, bees in Zimbabwe fend off illegal loggers

By Jeffrey Moyo

WATSOMBA, Zimbabwe (AA) - Tanaka Ngara, 39, who lived in Watsomba village in Zimbabwe's Mutasa district, transformed his fortune through beekeeping, which also successfully helped safeguard his area's dwindling forests.

For over a decade, Ngara has made a living on the numerous hives he set up on a wide stretch of forest near his rural home in the eastern Manicaland Province.

Before others joined him in the apiculture business, huge swathes of forestland in the region were at risk of illegal logging.

Many villages have stopped tampering with the forests for fear of being stung by the burgeoning armies of bees, he said.

"Initially, I just wanted to have spots on trees from where to set up my beehives, without thinking that my endeavor would end up fending off destroyers of the trees," Ngara told Anadolu Agency

"I'm pleased that my initiative paid off," he remarked.

Besides their environmental dividends, his hives have also financially helped Ngara, who now owns a home in Mutare, Zimbabwe's eastern border town.

"Beekeeping has enabled me to earn money to own an urban home, and I am now able to send my three children to a top private school," he added.

- Buzzing forest rangers

Environmentalists in the country are encourage beekeeping as a means of preventing illegal loggers from cutting down forests.

Happison Chikova, a graduate of the country's Midlands State University with a degree in environmental studies, said beekeepers have been a boon in the fight against deforestation in the Southern African country.

"Beekeepers are the soldiers for the forests that are under threat from timber poachers. The bees they keep in beehives perched on trees help to scare off anyone intent on cutting down the trees, which means the forests are often left untouched and therefore flourish," Chikova told Anadolu Agency.

According to the Timber Producers Federation, an independent association in Zimbabwea, commercial forests declined from 120,000 hectares (about 297,000 acres) in 2019 to about 69,000 hectares in 2020.

According to a 2014 assessment by the Ministry of Environment, Water, and Climate, 6 million tons of timber are consumed annually in the country for fuel.

This is about 1.4 million tons more than the forests can sustainably provide, implying that Zimbabwe is losing 330,000 hectares of forest per year -- more than 60 million trees. The current annual planting rate is around 8 million.

Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture is encouraging more than 250 farmers in Manicaland Province alone to engage in commercial beekeeping as part of a new campaign to battle deforestation in the country.

According to Denis Mbewe, an agricultural extension officer, these farmers are apparently growing forest areas and combating charcoal extraction and illegal logging using the bees they raise for honey.

- Greater benefit

Even though forest defenders like Ngara benefit greatly from their beekeeping initiative, ordinary Watsomba villagers say they have been left stuck, with no access to firewood.

"Every time you go out to fetch firewood, you get attacked by bees, and this means we're now suffering without firewood," Erasmus Tsoko, 41, told Anadolu Agency.

However, environmental activist Trynos Homwe, based in the capital Harare, sees this is welcome news for the survival of the country's forests.

"It is desirable that people refrain from cutting down trees for firewood since it offers the country's forests a much longer life, which is beneficial for the ecology," Homwe told Anadolu Agency.

Recognizing that there is more to gain than to lose from beekeeping, an increasing number of farmers in Zimbabwe have entered the fray, establishing hives across forests in their communities and launching a campaign against cutting trees.

"We're making money, but we're also having bees combat wood poachers, and this is proving to be a success, and the forests are coming back to life here," Manu Midzi, of the Marondera area in the country's Mashonaland East Province, told Anadolu Agency.

The hives that Midzi, 54, set up in a eucalyptus plantation in Marondera have done their magic, protecting more than 350 hectares of the area's eucalyptus woodlots.

- Striking gold

Midzi, like several other farmers here who have switched to apiculture, has struck gold with the venture, and the bees he keeps for honey have become ammunition in defending the forests.

A liter of honey collected from beehives sells for about $2 and he harvests close to 400 liters of honey twice a month from his beehives, meaning Midzi earns roughly $1,600 every month.

As it serves to fatten the pockets of many, agricultural expert Mbewe says bee-keeping "has become a useful instrument for raising people's awareness on community-based natural forest conservation."