An hour and a half’s drive away from Ibadan, Nigeria’s third largest city, lives a village community home to the Excel beekeeping group. The Excel beekeeping group is a group of farmers turned beekeepers who received training from Bees Abroad nearly five years ago in July 2019. Since then, beekeeping has become as essential part of their livelihoods.

The Excel beekeepers shared their story with us. The rest of this blog is written by them:

Access to more Apiculture Networking

The beekeeping projects provided opportunities for members to network with other beekeepers and experts in the apiculture industry. The networking opened doors to other learning opportunities, access to new technologies and practices, and exchanging ideas and experiences with fellow beekeepers.

Some of Excel Beekeepers have been opportune to connect with a wider community of beekeepers, to stay updated with the latest trends and advancements in beekeeping. Members were present at the African Api-Expo Conference, A visit to Forest Research Institute of Nigeria, Margot Abayomi Memorial Evergreen (MAMIE) Foundation Forest, An insight into Slow Food Nigeria, Ministry of Agriculture Capacity Building, and others.

We covered the MAMIE foundation and the Emerald Forest in our last blog, you can read it here.

Additional and Increase in Individual & Group of income

Beekeeping is indeed a lucrative venture, providing an additional source of income for individuals and Excel group. Honey, beeswax, and other bee products are sold locally generating revenue. Also, the knowledge into making of hives and other tools have been used in rendering services to others upcoming beekeepers. Mr. Boluwaji, the group coordinator testified of generating huge income by rendering beekeeping services to people through the years –

“Beekeeping initiative has helped in diversifying my streams of income and promoting my farming experience. I managed apiary for not less that fifteen farmers, harvesting and processing for them as a paid service”.

Beekeeping Outreaches

Having enjoyed the benefits of modern beekeeping as thought by Bees Abroad, Excel Beekeepers has taken up a challenge of reaching out to more rural communities, including school children and local farmers of Oyo State to raise awareness about the importance of bees and their role in ecosystems, give beekeeping training to increase the knowledge base and encourage these communities to tap into the multi-floral richness of their environment.

Also adding the goal of tree planting for conservation efforts, to minimize the threats faced by bees. We believe that Community Beekeeping-Tree projects can contribute to the conservation of bees and their natural habitats. This outreach can also inspire others to take up beekeeping or adopt practices that promote bee-friendly environments.

A photo of some Excel Beekeeper members with community members of Okelagan Village as participants of the Beekeeping sensitization visit

Increase in Crop Yield

Being a farming community, we’ve experienced that bees play a vital role in pollination, which is essential for the reproduction of many flowering plants and crops. A lot of our member introduced beekeeping into their farms and recorded significant increase in crop yield. Mr Yuusuf, a seasoned crop farmer shared an experience of his maize.

“My maize yield has indeed increased and sweeter in taste since the introduction of my personal apiary.”

The Excel beekeepers, beekeeping in Nigeria and the Green Match Fund

A big thank you to the Excel beekeepers for sharing their story with us. They shared much more, and we’ll be bringing more updates from them later in the year.

The Excel beekeeping group have shared some great examples of some of the themes we have been talking about in the ‘Food, Beekeeping and Social Justice’ campaign. They are based in Nigeria, one of the countries we are raising funds for in the Green Match Fund.

You can help communities like the Excel beekeepers in Nigeria. Your support can help remove barriers and create opportunities for communities, enabling them to empower themselves.

You can get your donation doubled until Thursday 25th April. One donation, double the impact for beekeeping communities.