Western province small farmer production project, Republic of Zambia

Africare will help the Forestry Department"s Beekeeping Division implement the project. The Beekeeping Division will establish a 150 sq. ft. processing plant and a 50 sq. ft storage area at Kaoma to produce high-grade honey and beeswax for domestic consumption and export. In addition, the Division"s headquarters staff will conduct weeklong courses in beekeeping techniques (including the construction and use of frame hives) in Kaoma, Lukulu, and Mumbwa districts; a small Zairois booklet on beekeeping will be translated into local languages and made available in rural libraries. The Division will also organize beekeepers into small groups in the villages to facilitate extension, local processing, and marketing. Besides financing the building of three houses in the project area for, and providing vehicles needed for extension to, the Beekeeping Division, Africare will underwrite a revolving fund to enable the Division to purchase honey and beeswax offered for sale in the project area, make equipment loans to beekeepers, and cover recurrent expenditures until the project becomes self-sustaining. The project will principally benefit some 450 active honey-gatherers in the region (mostly subsistence farmers) and some 1,000 others expected to resume or take up the trade. The project is expected to triple annual honey production in the three districts to about 120 tons over a 3-year period, supplement beekeepers" meager incomes, and contribute significantly to satisfying domestic demand for honey and beeswax.