Gone with the wind - beekeeping protecting crops

Apr 12, 2025

From lip balm to hair conditioner, shea butter is a common ingredient in many beauty products. Shea butter comes from the nut of the Vitellaria tree and grows in dry savannah environments including norther Ghana.

Shea nuts collected from the Vitellaria tree and ready to be turned in to Shea butter

We work with shea farming communities in Ghana. They are reliant on this crop but in recent years they have noticed their yields reducing. The harmattan, the winds that come in the dry season, blow from December to March, the same time the shea tree (1) is in blossom. These winds are getting stronger, so much so that they’re blowing the blossoms off the trees before they can be pollinated.

Blossoming with bees

These communities found that keeping bees under the Vitellaria trees helps mitigate against the stronger winds. The bees get to the blossoms before the winds blow them away, helping maintain the supply of shea nuts.

A photo from one of the communities we’re working with in the ‘Kumbungu Cluster’, the Kumbungu District is a shea producing region of Ghana

Beekeeping offers these communities a vital tool to become more climate resilient. It’s more than maintaining a supply of shea butter for beauty products, it’s a lifeline. Beekeeping helps with food security on two levels, firstly, shea nut oil is used in traditional cooking and secondly income from selling the shea is mostly used to buy food.

Poverty is much higher in the North of Ghana than the South so protecting one of the main sources of income, shea, is vital.

Coffee, climate change and bees

Uganda is a major exporter of coffee. In 2024 Uganda exported $1 billion of coffee, around 85% of which is grown by small holders (2). Coffee requires a cool tropical climate and only grows at altitude. Uganda’s Rwenzori Mountains, featured in our last blog, are higher than the Alps and at present have ideal coffee growing conditions. However, research suggests that with climate change the Rwenzori Mountain coffee areas will “…become less suitable, and particularly those at lower altitudes (1500m) will be severely affected.” (3) .

A photo of a coffee plant with coffee cherries of varying ripeness taken in one of our beekeeping communities in Uganda

As climate change threatens livelihoods of smallholder coffee farmers, beekeeping can offer a valuable way to diversify income. One study in Uganda suggests beekeeping can increase smallholder coffee producers income by 7% (4). The increase in overall income from beekeeping is dependent on a number of factors, our team in Ghana reports household income increases of up to 20% from beekeeping.

Bees get a buzz from caffeine

How do the bees respond to coffee plants? It seems bees love them! Caffeine in nectar has a similar effect on bees as it does on us; caffeine in nectar “..is likely to improve the bee’s foraging prowess while providing the plant with a more faithful pollinator.” (5).

Limes and lemons growing, the flowers provide great forage for bees and a fruit crop for farmers

It’s not just coffee flowers. In researches found that the the nectar of flowers in grapefruit, lemons, pomelo and oranges also contained caffeine. Many of our projects include tree planting, including fruit trees such as the ones listed. This provides more forage for the bees but also further diversifies income as farmers have an additional fruit crop.

Bees, farmers and climate change

Beekeeping is a fantastic tool to help smallholder farmers build climate resilience. We’re working with smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa to support them in taking up beekeeping as a tool to build resilience.

Members of the Kumbungu Cluster beekeepers learning to make beehives

This Earth Month we’re running our “Collaborate for Climate” campaign, raising funds to support communities on the front line of climate change in Ghana. Now is a great time to donate, from 2-30th April all donations will be doubled. Find out more about the campaign and the projects we’re raising funds for on our campaign page.