Bees for Development Journal 98

MAKING LOCAL BEEKEEPINGSUSTAINABLE IN SIERRA LEONEKwameAidoo, Sa/tpond Honey Centre, POBox 169, Saltpond, Ghana

Keywords: African beekeeping, basket hives, beekeeping calendar, FAO,honey marketing, Koinadugu, local hives, pulling honey, womenIn this article DrAidoo describes the traditional practice and how it isnow improved to ensure that bees are not harmed, and larger volumesof top quality honey and beeswax are harvested.Koinadugu is the largest district in Sierra Leone, sharing a border withGuinea to the North. The major occupation is agriculture, with farmersinvolved in crop and animal production. Rice is the main staple cropand is grown in low lying swamps, as well as on high ground during therainy season. Other cultivated crops include Brassica, cassava, okra,peppers and sweet potatoes. The rainy season is May until Octoberwhile the rest of the year is a long, dry season, characterised by hotdaytime temperatures with dry Hamattan winds.

Local style beekeepingMany farmers use a local style of beekeeping that has been passedbetween generations. Honey from these beekeepers becomes availablein the weekly markets during April and May. This beekeeping beginswith learning the skills for weaving cylindrical baskets from raffia canes.These baskets are developed into bee hives by coating them with athick layer of either cow dung or clay and cow dung mix. After thebasket dries in the sun for three days, it is wrapped with a thick layer ofdry grass and bound tightly with raffia rope. Two discs are woven withthe pith of the raffia cane and these are used to close up each end ofthe cylindrical basket. Two holes made in the disc serve as entrancesfor the bee colony that is hoped will settle inside.

Hive placementThe basket hive is placed high in the branches of a tall tree and isfastened with raffia rope to hold it securely. One tree may hold up tofive hives, depending on the spread of the canopy. The beekeepers setup their hives during January and February to catch the swarms of beesthat abound in the forests at that time of the year. In March and April,two to three months after the hives have been colonised, the farmersget ready for honey harvest, or as they refer to it 'pulling honey'.

The battle of 'pulling honey'Tree climbing is a skill that a good beekeeper must learn for hiveplacement and for honey harvest. At dusk the harvesting team leaves

The battle of 'pulling honey'

Basket hive coated with cow dung

the village and moves into the dark forest with honey harvesting toolsand containers. The operation begins with lighting a torch of fire madewith dry palm fronds or grass. One member of the gang climbs the treearmed with a cutlass and a long, strong rope. He goes up into thecanopy and ties the rope around the hive. He then cuts loose the raffiaties that secured the hive to the tree and using the rope and a treebranch as a pulley, lowers the hive slowly to the ground. The heavy hivelands on the forest floor and the bees are angry. As quickly as possible,the grass cover of the hive is cut open to expose the inner basketcylinder. This is slashed length-wise to expose all the combs.All honeycombs are removed and put into containers and some broodcombs are taken to be eaten. During this operation many of the workerbees are burnt with the torch and the entire nest is destroyed. The fateof the few bees that are not killed is anybody's guess. The team moveson to harvest the next hive in the same manner.

The role of womenWomen are forbidden to climb trees and therefore cannot 'pull honey',however they are responsible for the important roles of processing andmarketing. The man comes home deep in the night with a load ofhoneycombs and some brood combs to be enjoyed by all, includingthe neighbours. The woman's work begins with preparing a hot bath forthe man, and she checks his body to remove the remnants of numerousstings. She must extract the honey before daybreak, otherwise bees willinvade the house next morning to take back their stolen treasure. Thecombs are put into a big cooking pot and placed on a fire to melt. Thewoman stirs up the combs until all have melted, the molten mixture ofhoney and wax is taken off the fire and poured into broad mouthedcontainers that are tightly covered and allowed to cool. After cleaningher kitchen of all traces of honey and wax, she goes to bed - only to bewoken at dawn by the call to all faithful to worship. The next day themelted combs have formed solid beeswax on top of the honey. This isremoved and put aside (it is not regarded as being of commercialimportance). The cooked honey is packed into 7 kg plastic containers

BEEKEEPING IN SIERRA LEONE Bees for Development Journal 98

Wrapping basket hives with Kola leaves

and sent to the market place where buyers from neighbouring Guineabuy them at cheap prices. The honey merchants are content with thehoney produced in the district and buy at the giveaway price ofSLL6,000 (US$1.40; €1.02) per 7 kg container. The sale of honey inthe market closes the beekeeping season for the year.

Pastor John Kumara is acclaimed as the leading beekeeper inKoinadugu. He is the Chairman of the Musaia Beekeeping Group whichhas 25 members. This group has about 500 basket hives with anaverage yield of 14 kg of honey. About one tonne of honey is sent forsale in Musaia.

A new eraThe Government of Sierra Leone Ministry of Agriculture, with supportfrom the Italian Government and the UN Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO), launched Operation Feed the Nation under the FoodSecurity for Commercialisation of Agriculture project. Honey wasidentified as one of the products that has potential to become anincome earner for farmers, and in July 2009 FAO assessed thebeekeeping potential of Koinadugu, and various interventions wereplanned for improvement. Beekeepers in the district were put into 44groups, each with a membership of 25. These were prepared to receiveinterventions recommended by the FAO consultant. This marked thebeginning of a new era of quality honey production.

In February 2010 a workshop was organised to discuss alternatives tonegative practices. There were no drastic changes to the traditional

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Pastor John Kamara shows the improved Kamara basket hive

system, and beekeeping in the district has been greatly improvedthrough the modifications:

Cow dung in hive construction: Wrapping the basket with Kola leaves orbanana leaves is a good substitute for cow dung.

New Kamara basket hive: The redesigned hive has a brood chamberwhich slots into a second honey section and allows harvesting withoutdestruction of the colony.

Placement of hives: Placing hives in trees stops bush fires fromdestroying colonies. A fire belt created around an apiary of 10-20 hivescould offer protection.

Beekeeping calendar: A working guide for beekeepers (image below).Two honey harvests are possible in the dry season if colonies are notkilled during harvesting.

Honey business centre: This will be established in Musaia to handleproduction from all groups in the district and focus on marketing topquality honey and other bee products.

'Koina Forest Honey' is now much sought after in Sierra Leone. Beforethe project, in Freetown, a 1 kg bottle of Koina Forest Honey sold atSLL5,000 (US$1.17; €0.85). Today, a 350 g jar sells for SLL14,000(US$3.27; €2.37). Pastor Kamara and his group sell their wellpackaged honey directly to ten supermarkets and participate in a weeklyfood fair in Freetown.

Dr Aidoo is BfD's Correspondent in Ghana. The full article is on our website.

Bafa (thatch hutch) used as a bee house for effective colony management\ calendar being developed for Koinadugu District