AGRICULTURAL NEWS - Beekeeping has offered a lifeline to many rural communities, as this essential service allowed them to generate an income during the COVID-19-related lockdown.
However, the spike in demand for honey and pollination services during this time also meant that bee and honey theft was rife.
Guy Stubbs, founder of the African Honey Bee programme, which trained rural populations in beekeeping to provide an income stream in isolated areas, said that the year had shown some unexpectedly encouraging results.
“Collectively, since the beginning of the year, the participating families have harvested about 5t of honey, earning close to R360 000 despite the national lockdown.”
