Farmers taste sweet success with FQM'S beekeeping project, as the mining firm provides over 302 farmers with training and new state-of-the-art beehives

APART from being Zambia’s major pineapple producer and the nation’s mining hub, North-Western Province is poised to return to being the country’s leading honey-producing area, thanks to First Quantum Minerals’ beekeeping project.

The project is providing local beekeepers with training, hives and assistance with accessing markets for their honey.

Trident Foundation beekeepers set their hives.

Honey production is one of several livelihood interventions targeting communities neighbouring FQM’s Kalumbila and Kansanshi mines, helping promote the conservation of trees and discouraging the burning of Miombo woodland. The project is also aimed at improving livelihoods for farmers by providing an additional source of income for their households.

FQM’s Trident Foundation livelihoods supervisor Peter Ngandu says the mining firm has trained over 302 local farmers in new beekeeping techniques, providing them with state-of-the-art beehives, which with proper maintenance can last longer than conventional beehives.

“Through the Trident Foundation, we have been supporting initiatives such as this one, which aim to improve the skills and livelihoods of local farmers. And we have put the farmers in clusters, helping them to experience the new technology being used in beekeeping, such as the Kenyan beehives we are getting from the Copperbelt, which can last to about 20 to 30 years with good maintenance,” explained Mr Ngandu.

The mining firm has been actively working towards sustainable, transparent, and responsible economic and social development, by positively contributing to supply chain development and capacity building for local farmers within the host communities of its mining operations.

Trident Foundation beekeepers set their hives.

Trident Foundation beekeepers set their hives.

“We intend to increase the number of hives depending on the area and on the response from the farmers themselves, and we hope that this will lead to an increase in the yield of the honey as well as their income, which will in turn improve their livelihoods,” said Mr Ngandu.

He said that the beekeeping project was also aimed at improving diets for farmers and providing a source of income for rural households, adding that the sector had the potential to grow due to the abundant forests.

A partnership with social enterprise Nature’s Nectar provides training and hives management, and links the project to requirements for farmers to stop charcoal manufacture and bush burning.

“It is for this reason that we are also helping our farmers with market linkages. Because without a ready market, our livelihoods projects would be of less help. So, like in this case when you talk about honey or beekeeping, we have already connected our farmers to the buyers, which also gives us the confidence to order more hives to make sure that we increase the number of hives per household or per farmer so we meet the demand.

"Because if we only provide the hives ad there is no market for the honey, it defeats the whole purpose. So, we are in contact with other stakeholders that are able to buy the honey from our farmers without any hesitation. So, I am very happy to mention that this is one of the successes that we have seen in beekeeping for the last two years now,” said Mr Ngandu.

In 2015, beekeepers in North-Western Province made a plea to government to speed up the formation of a honey cluster in response to the upswing of beekeeping in the region. And over 2,000 apiculturists were stranded with 45 metric tonnes of honey due to lack of a readily available market for their honey. FQM beekeeping project aims to address that by facilitating a linkage between beekeepers and the market.

Trident Foundation beekeepers set their hives.

As of the end of January 2018 the project produced 3 tonnes of honey and generated the total of K20,706 in four communities. The Ntambu beekeeping committee has produced its own brand of honey which is being sold in Kalumbila. They have also assembled and distributed 1,500 Bee Sweet hives.

FQM, through the Trident Foundation, runs a local business development programme to help remove barriers to small and medium enterprise growth and link local businesses to economic opportunities in the Sentinel Mine, Kalumbila town and beyond, including international market linkages.

FQM has spent well over US$100 million on its sustainability and community development programmes. The overall objective of the mining firm’s socio-economic development initiatives is to create lasting self-reliance for its employees, their families and the immediate communities around its mining operations in Kalumbila and Solwezi Districts of North-Western Province. This is according to a media release issued by Langmead & Baker recently.

Zambian Government looking to increase and stiffen penalties against wildlife crimes to enhance deterrence

GOVERNMENT is implementing legislative reforms to increase and stiffen penalties against wildlife crimes and enhance deterrence, Ministry of Tourism and Arts Permanent Secretary Amos Malupenga has said.

Amos Malupenga

Mr Malupenga said Zambia has embarked on the review of the Wildlife Act of 2015 and hopes to have a revised one by next year.

Speaking when he officiated at a two-day awareness workshop on available tools to support law enforcement in preventing and combating wildlife crime in the Kavango Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) region in Livingstone yesterday, Mr Malupenga said Zambia takes seriously biodiversity conservation.

“Wildlife crime is becoming increasingly recognised as a multifaceted global and specialised threat to many plant and animal species being poached and threatened to the brink of extinction.

“It appears that illegal wildlife trade is seen as a low risk activity, mainly due to inconsistent and ineffective prosecution and relatively low penalties,” he said.

He said partner states in the KAZA TFCA region have realised the impact wildlife crime has in decimating wildlife populations and efforts are being made to combat the scourge.

Mr Malupenga said Zambia is accelerating efforts in collaborating with other local law enforcement agencies and cross border collaboration with neighbouring countries in sharing intelligence information and joint operations in detecting and countering poaching and trafficking incidents.

A poached elephant

“Zambia has embraced the use of technology such as drones, and dogs for detection of wildlife crimes owing to the fact that wildlife crimes have become sophisticated and transnational in nature,” he said.

Speaking earlier, Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) director Paul Zyambo said the only way poaching can reduce is by making it expensive and very risky for the poachers by employing effective detection and deterrence systems.

“We, who are enforcing the law must make it very difficult for the poacher so that they do not consider it at all,” he said.

KAZA TFCA executive director Nyambe Nyambe bemoaned the levels of sophistication in wildlife crimes.

“We have a duty to up our game to keep up with this sophistication being employed by not only poachers, but also traffickers,” said Dr Nyambe.

And United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) global chief Jorge Rios said the organisation is available to offer assistance to KAZA TFCA to curb wildlife crimes.

VICTORIA FALLS' OTHER WONDER FACE: it is the only falls in the world with two faces, market both!

IT IS not strange for the Victoria Falls to be dry during summer because it is the only natural wonder in the world with ‘two faces’, site manager John Zulu says.

Social media has been abuzz with pictures of a dry Victoria Falls.

But speaking in an interview, Mr Zulu said the falls usually dries up during this time of the year.

He said it is during this time of the year that geologists also conduct studies and monitoring exercises on the falls.

“There is nothing very strange about this phenomenon. The Victoria Falls is the only falls in the world with two faces, not even the Niagra falls comes close. What we should be doing is market these two faces,” he said.

Mr Zulu said there is need to market the other face of the falls to the world because it too has its own advantages. “We have packaged different activities for tourists in different seasons to get maximum benefits out of it. In this period, you get to walk on top of the falls to the Livingstone Island, swim underneath the falls, swim in the angel’s pool as well as in the devils pool, and also white water rafting,” he said.

He said the high water season runs from the second week of December to August whereas the low water season at the falls is from the September to December with the climax being April and May.

“It’s difficult to say whether this has affected tourist arrivals or not, because there are people who love to view it in its current state. They appreciate it because it is the only time they get to see the geological formation of the falls and appreciate its aqua life as opposed to viewing it at its climax where there is just a spray of water,” he said.

Mr Zulu said the Zimbabwean side of the falls has water falling at the main falls and the devils cataract because the falls slants towards the Zimbabwean side.

“Whereas on our side, we have a hydro-power plant which has diverted water for economic and social benefits, but even without the diversion, this time of the year, we don’t have a lot of water, plus we all know that we had bad rains,” he said.

He said that there is need to market the falls even in its current situation so that people get to appreciate its two faces.

This article was also published in the Zambia Daily Mail newspaper of October 9, 2019. You can find it on this link http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/vic-falls-shows-its-other-wonder-face/