“I wanted to be eating honey and give my children honey as medicine. Also, I wanted to make money out of beekeeping.”
My Life as Beekeeper
Who belongs to your family / who is living with you?
I am staying alone. My wife died and my children live in town. Some of my children got married.
How has bee keeping changed your life?
I am 75 years old and have done beekeeping for 30 years. I now have 29 hives all with bees or colonized. All beehives are traditional beehives. I made them myself, and manufactured others for sale. I sell each for 20,000shs and make a living for my family.
I managed to buy some piece of land from the sales of honey, which was a good harvest, I also bought a bicycle that helps in movement. I no longer disturb my children to send me money because am able to get money through beekeeping.
How do you provide a good environment for your bees?
I have planted flowers in the apiary, clean and slash the apiary and keep monitoring the bees. I provide water and sometimes food like fruit juice or cassava flour.
What do trees mean to you and how can they be protected?
Trees mean a lot to me because they influence rainfall which helps our crops to grow, they protect us from strong winds.
What is the most important thing in your life?
Having big land and a motorcycle.
What are your biggest challenges and how do you plan to overcome them?
Pests disturb my bees like black ants, red ants, sugar ants, termites but I try to clean the apiary so they can reduce.
I lack protective wear, so the bees disturb when I harvest. I will try to get one bee suit. I move a long distance to take my honey for sell. At least now I use the bicycle.
What do like to do in your free time?
I enjoy drinking local brew in my free time.
Which place would you like to see once?
Traveling to Kampala would be great.