THE ROLE OF BEEKEEPING FOR DEVELOPMENT

Sustainable beekeeping practice is a significant development tool in rural areas and particularly for Least Developed Countries because:

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1. it can generate income for the landless rural poor and the undercapitalised small- to medium-size family farms;
2. it can produce income and therefore improve food security, especially in marginal agricultural production areas and in or near protected nature reserves.1 Moreover, it provides important nutritional supplements to local diets;
3. it is suitable for men and women alike;
4. it offers significant income in trade and value-adding; it can promote rural development, including for small scale enterprises through the production of beekeeping equipment (hives, bee suits, centrifuges, etc.) and processing of beekeeping products (honey beverages, candles, cosmetics, etc.);
5. it ensures permanently available natural remedies within the local health care (apitherapy) and supplements (nutrition);
6. it contributes to increasing pollination and as such enhances quality and quantity of fruit and seed production;
7. it maintains biodiversity and preserves the natural habitat in land-use planning, such as avoiding felling of trees on which bees forage.

Because of its multi-purpose role and the crucial position of the honey bee in the food chain, beekeeping should be an integrated part of rural development strategies and policies, not only for

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1. the direct benefit of human well-being (MDG Millemnium goals 1 & 7²), but also for
2. the parallel environmental services it provides – pollination, pollinator protection, biodiversity conservation and, indirectly, reduced and more responsible pesticide applications because of higher awareness.

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(Extract from Memorandum approved in Brussels March 26, 2010 following the International Seminar "Beekeeping and Development: Diversity of Initiatives and Interest for a Network ")

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¹ Honey and other products of the hive may be qualified as non-wood forest products (NWFP). Defined by the FAO, 1999: “Non-wood forest products are goods of biological origin other than wood, derived from forests, other woodland areas, and from trees outside of forests”.

² MDG – Millennium Development Goals 1 End Poverty and Hunger & 7 Environmental Sustainability and, to a lesser extent, 3 Gender Equality and 4 Child health http://www.un.org/fr/millenniumgoals