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“I was motivated because I got money – ugx.60,000 that time and I bought 2 goats. Then I paid something called PDF for my child at school. But I started with local hives. I first bought 10 local hives. Then I also bought 5 local pots to use as hive. When I harvested and got that money, I got motivated to increase the number of hives. That is when I now got modern hives.”
My Life as Beekeeper
Who belongs to your family / who is living with you?
Here in my compound we are 8 people. Me, my wife, 5 of my biological children and 1 orphan called Ataku Fataki. He is a son to my late brother.
How has beekeeping changed your life?
As I said, bee keeping has benefits. I now have some small animals at home, like goats. Some of the money is used to support the family. You get it once or twice a year, but it helps a lot.
How do you provide a good environment for your bees?
….in the beginning, before they colonized, we would give the bees some food, like cassava flour. Then we apply wax to attract them.
After they have colonized, we make sure their environment is clean and they are not disturbed by pests. We also protect the trees under which they are kept. As you can see, this is a valley and water is not a problem. That is how we take care of them.
What do trees mean to you and how can they be protected?
Yes, trees are important. Trees are the most important thing in the world. Trees give us fresh air as human beings, they bring rain, thirdly, when the leaves fall down, they decompose and fertilize the soil. Like coffee, we protect them by ensuring they ae pruned. You also weed under the coffee trees. These others we protect by ensuring that people don’t cut them or burn them into charcoal.
What is the most important thing in your life?
The most important thing in my life is first I did not go far with education, so what I now consider important is what helps me get some money, like beekeeping. This will help me to educate my children.
What are your biggest challenges and how do you plan to overcome them?
Our biggest challenge here is we have few hives. We wanted to increase the number of hives so that we harvest up to 1 ton every year. So the biggest challenge is lack of money or capital to increase this project. To overcome this challenge, we are thinking that we need to come into a group so that we can get some support, may be from Government or from organization that can give us support or loan that can be paid in kind, using honey etc.
What do you like to do in your free time?
During my free time, first, I check on the bee hives. Sometimes I just walk under the trees I have planted, just to get that fresh air.
Which place would you like to see once?
I would like to reach a place where they keep bees on a large scale or somewhere they process honey, like a tour, so that I learn something new.
