Wassa-mampong: Goshen Global Vision (GGV), a Non-Governmental Organisation focused on organic farming and tree planting, has conducted a beekeeping training program for approximately thirty cocoa cooperative farmers from Daboase and Mpohor in the Wassa-East District, Western Region.
According to Ghana News Agency, the initiative, part of the United States Forest Services International Project (USFS-IP), received joint funding from the European Forest Institute (EFI) and the European Union (EU). Mr. Theophilus Ebenezer Amihere, a Project Officer with GGV, led the training on behalf of Madam Mary Perpetual Kwakwuyi, Executive Director of GGV. The focus was on 'Honeycomb Harvest and Honey Extraction,' aimed at promoting climate-resilient agricultural practices to enhance rural livelihoods.
The training covered essential topics such as setting up and managing an apiary, basic tools for handling honeybee colonies, and understanding the honeybee lifecycle from egg to adult. Mr. Amihere emphasized that beekeeping could serve as an alternative livelihood program, positively impacting carbon sequestration.
GGV supports beekeeping as a strategy for low emissions development to improve farmers' conditions, particularly in the cocoa sector. The training aims to offer economic incentives for farmers to conserve and enhance tree cover in farm landscapes, providing services like pollination that contribute to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.
The GGV Project Officer highlighted various products derived from apiaries, including honey, wax for cosmetic products, royal jelly for health treatments, pollen as a natural source of vitamins, and bee venom for medical applications. Beekeeping offers direct benefits such as employment, income generation, poverty reduction, nutrition, health, and leisure.
Mr. Amihere assured the farmers that GGV would supply bee-boxes to support their beekeeping endeavors. In an interview, Mr. Benjamin Ntem, Secretary to the Adwumapa Cooperative Farmers in Daboase and Mpohor, expressed gratitude for GGV's interventions like the Village Saving and Loan initiative, tree planting, and beekeeping training, which aim to alleviate poverty and improve farmers' economic status.