Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services: Technology Profile - Langstroth Beehive

The country's agricultural sector provides 18.6% of the country's Gross Domestic Product and employs 45% of the total labor force. In recent years, Bangladesh has achieved national food security and some reduction in poverty levels, with declines in the proportion of underweight children and children with severe stunting. However, poverty and malnutrition remain a serious problem for one-fourth of the population who have few assets and are often vulnerable to shocks from disease, economic crises, and extreme weather. Gender disparities are significant in Bangladesh, with 78% of employed women working in agriculture compared to 53% of men. However, their contributions are not fully recognized due to cultural norms that value female seclusion and undervalue female labor. These norms also limit women's ownership of land in their own names (3.5%) and restrict access to and control over other productive assets. The Bangladesh national baseline survey of the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index in 2011 found that the domains contributing most to low levels of empowerment were weak leadership and influence in the community, lack of control over resources, and lack of control over income. The Integrating Gender and Nutrition within Agricultural Extension Services (INGENAES) project works to improve agricultural livelihoods by strengthening extension and advisory services to empower and engage smallholder farmers, men and women. The project focuses on improving the dissemination of gender-appropriate and nutrition-enhancing technologies and inputs to improve women's agricultural productivity and enhance household nutrition. One technology profile supported by INGENAES is the Langstroth Beehive, which was developed in 1850 by Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth. The Langstroth hive is used specifically with the Mellifera breed, which produces significantly more honey than local species. In Bangladesh, beekeeping has been promoted since 1977 by the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) with wooden hives. Today, beekeeping continues with the help of the Government of Bangladesh and non-governmental organizations. Many organizations provide training on the rearing of bees, including the Bangladesh Institute of Apiculture (BIA), BSCIC, Proshikkhan Shikkha Karmo (PROSHIKA), and Mouchas Unnayan Sangstha (MUS). These organizations also provide technical support and provide or make available for sale the necessary equipment for beekeeping, such as clothing, a smoker, and hives. BSCIC has a training center on beekeeping in Gazipur, Bangladesh, which uses a Farmer Field School approach to train participants in beekeeping. The Langstroth Beehive has several advantages, including low entry costs and the ease of learning the trade in only one to two seasons. Many beekeepers interviewed combined their beekeeping activities with other income-generating activities. An advantage of beekeeping is that it does not require land ownership, which is significant because 45% of people are landless in Bangladesh. Beekeeping gives them the opportunity to earn an income without purchasing land. The business of beekeeping also increases food availability through additional income that men and women beekeepers spend on food such as fish, milk, and meat. Farmers who use bees to pollinate their crops experience an increase in production, another avenue for increasing food availability.