400 Rural Women Get Support To Boost Beekeeping

Some 400 rural women in eight communities in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of the newly created Savannah Region have received training and livelihood empowerment to go into beekeeping business.

The one-day training took place at Jilinkon Saturday morning, and afforded beneficiaries the opportunity to learn various techniques of beekeeping, including trapping of the bees into beehives, using protective clothing and harvesting of honey.

They were supported with beekeeping equipment after the training.

With full funding from Man & Nature in France, the three years project is being facilitated by the Coalition for Development of Northern Ghana (NORTHCODE-Ghana), an NGO based in the Northern region.

The beneficiary communities include Jilinkon, Soma, Jang, Wekora, Yoliyiri, Kodanyina number 1, Kodanyina number II and Yamuayiri; comprising 200 women and 100 men who are supposed to be supporting the women.

The project comes along with the construction of a Honey Processing Centre with an office complex and a warehouse was the pure honey would be extracted and processed for a ready market.

It is also designed to teach women how to fish instead of just giving them fish, since ready market will be available for the women.

The French government wants to help communities which are around reserve areas...The idea of supporting (women) in beekeeping is to support you to generate other income from beekeeping. Is because you don't have money, that's why you just go and cut a tree and convert into charcoal...It is not the fault of the women since that is the only way she can get some money to feed the family. If you give that woman something to do, she would not go and cut that tree.

CREMA committees are to be given mobile phones among others to enhance their communication together with, NTFP to transplant in degraded lands in the rainy season.

The Deputy Manager of Mole National Park, Mr. Festus Courage Agyayaw urged community members to take a keen interest in the management of the Mole National Park and other protected areas.

He said when the park was developed, there was no much involvement of the fringe communities in its management and so, the community members didn't see the need and importance for the park.

Community members according to him, were largely denied access to the park with the fear that they would harm the animals. But with time, it was realised that the park cannot be managed without the assistance and involvement of the communities within which it is located.

He lamented the indiscriminate exploitation of our natural resources in the face of the growing population, adding that, human beings have become endangered species in the midst of such activities.

He disclosed that, certain medicinal plants and animal species have disintegrated as a result of these unregulated activities.

The government, he disclosed, has, therefore come out with a plan so that the communities, government, wildlife and forestry department can work together to promote sustainable exploitation of natural resources through the Collaborative Resource Management Policy.

He further stated that, in order to ensure the protection of the park and sustainable resource management, the CREMA was formed to ensure community members use resources in a sustainable manner in the land that belongs to them and not in the park.

He appealed to members to allay fears that the government was going to use the CREMA to seize lands from the communities.

The Assemblyman for the area, Mr. Kasuga Philip thanked NorthCode-Ghana and the donors for blessing his electoral area with such a giant project.

He promised they were going to receive the project with full commitment and ensure the production of first-class honey.

Among the equipment received are:140 beehives, bee stands, over 100 Wallington boots