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STORY: IFAD / WORLD BEE DAY
TRT: 5:25
SOURCE: IFAD
RESTRICTIONS: EMBARGO UNTIL 00:01 GMT 20 MAY 2024
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / HADZABE / SPANISH / NATS
DATELINE: 15 MAY 2024, ROME, ITALY – 10 JULY 2023, TANZANIA – DECEMBER 2021, CUETZALAN, MEXICO
10 JULY 2023, TANZANIA
1 Various shots, Beekeeper Michael Omari Shakwa and his friend walking towards hives
2. Various shots, Shakwa throwing rope to tree branches
3. Various shots, Hives hanging on trees
4. Wide shot, Shakwa climbing the rope to reach hives.
5. Aerial shot, tree with hanging hives from drone
6. Med shot, Beekeepers showing freshly harvested honeycombs
7. Close up, honeycomb
8. Wide shot, Beekeepers getting back to honey production facility
9. Various shots, Shakwa in traditional clothes connecting TV screen to line powered by solar panels
10. Med shot, Shakwa holding remote control and watching television inside his home
11. Close up, television screen showing programme
12. Various shots, Shakwa wearing traditional outfit walking around village
13. SOUNDBITE (Hadzabe) Michael Omari Shakwa, Beekeeper and Hunter:
“We the Hadzabe are hunber-gathers, that’s what we know. We’ve seen agriculture from other tribes surrounding us. They introduced these new things to us.”
14. Various shots, Views of Hadzabe’s territories
15. SOUNDBITE (Hadzabe) Joseph Kihuale, project manager:
“This community largely depends on hunting, beekeeping and consuming roots. With the changes, they are struggling to get food. Through the project we are teaching them how to farm, and slowly they are starting to understand that in addition to the forest they can also farm and get food and continue with their lives.”
16. Various shots, Hadzabe beekeepers producing honey
17. SOUNDBITE (Hadzabe) Jacob Lubumba, Hadzabe community, chairperson:
“There are currently 150 people who are participating in the project and there are still more people joining as the youth continue to grow up.”
18. Wide shot, Shakwa and his friend
19. Med shot, Hives hanging on a tree
20. Wide shot, exterior Honey production facility
21. Various shot, Hadzabe beekeepers producing honey
15 MAY 2024, ROME, ITALY
22. SOUNDBITE (English) Ilaria Firman, Seniour Technical Specialist on Indigenous People, IFAD:
"Bees are very important for biodiversity and health all over the world and indigenous people are known as custodians of biodivesity and have a very profound relationship with nature. They also have a very deep traditional knowledge of bees and they know how important they are for the ecosystem and interestingly, some indigenous groups attach a very important cultural values to bees."
DECEMBER 2021, CUETZALAN, MEXICO
23. Various shots, Beekeeper Omar Tecalco Mateo taking care of pots/hives
24. Close up, pots/hives
25. Wide shot, Beekeepers removing honeycombs from pots
26. Close up, Honeycomb surrounded by bees
27. Med shot, Beekeeper Omar cleansing pots
28. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Omar Tecalco Mateo, Young Indigenous beekeeper leader:
"This project has greatly benefited us. Because, in order to have that initial investment, buying all 23 pots, you need a lot of money — money we do not have.''
29. Various shots, Mexican beekeepers opening honey pot/hives and extracting honey
10 JULY 2023, TANZANIA
30. Close up, bees entering hive
31. Med shot, Beekeeper opening hives
32. Close up, beekeeper hand extracting honeycomb full of bees
33. Close up, honey dripping into glass jar
34. Med shot, Beekeeper Shakwa showing honeycombs and smiling
35. Zoom in, Beekeeper Shakwa posing outside his home in traditional clothes, bow and arrows
Bees play an essential part in the livelihoods of rural and indigenous communities, and they must be protected from harm. That's the message from the UN's International Fund for Agricultural Development on World Bee Day.
Some of the world's most disadvantaged communities can benefit from beekeeping and honey making as a source of work and income.
Beekeeper Shakwa and his friend are collecting honey from their hives, but it’s a dangerous task.
The hive boxes are suspended up high in the trees to keep wild animals from eating the honey. To collect the honey, he must winch themselves up on ropes and carefully release the hives to the ground.
Despite wearing special suits, the beekeepers are often stung, because the African bees are known for being very angry.
But the effort is worth it, the honey is sold in bulk to local buyers who package and sell it to tourist lodges in the area.
Last year Shakwa's community sold enough money to fund local projects in the village and to buy the equipment to install solar power in his hut.
Shakwa lives in the North of Tanzania and is part of the Hadzabe community, One of the last hunter gatherer tribes in Africa. There are just 1,300 members left.
Michael Omari Shakwa, hadzabe beekeeper and hunter, said: "We the hadzabe are hunter-gathers, that's what we know. We've seen agriculture from other tribes surrounding us, they introduced these new things to us."
Like many communities in the region, land degradation and climate change has reduced their ability to make a living from their natural environment.
Joseph Kihaule, Project Manager, said: “this community largely depends on hunting, beekeeping and consuming roots. With the changes, they are struggling to get food. Through the project we are teaching them how to farm. And slowly they are starting to understand that in addition to the forest they can also farm and get food and continue with their lives.”
The honey production supports not just those working as beekeepers but benefits the whole community.
Jacob Lubumba, Chairperson of the Hadzabe Community, said: "There are currently 150 people who are participating in the project and there are still more people joining as the youth continue to grow up."
IFAD and the government of Tanzania have supported this community with over 1,000 beehives and have built a production centre where they hope they can process it themselves in the future.
Beekeeping provides an essential source of income for many rural people with an estimated 1.6 tonnes of honey produced from 80 million tonnes of hives every year.
These insects have a particularly special relationship for indigenous communities around the world.
Ilaria Firman, IFAD’s Senior Technical Specialist On Indigenous People said, "Bees are very important for biodiversity and health all over the world and indigenous people are known as custodians of biodivesity and have a very profound relationship with nature. They also have a very deep traditional knowledge of bees and they know how important they are for the ecosystem and interestingly, some indigenous groups attach a very important cultural values to bees."
In Sierra Norte, de Puebla in Mexico, the local IFAD funded project provided these young indigenous people with pots rather than hives and trained them in how to look after meliponic or stingless bees.
Many young people in the community have gained employment, and an opportunity to keep their local traditions alive.
Omar is President of a group of young beekeepers.
While many in his community were forced to leave in search of work in the cities or get involved in criminal activities. Making an income from bees has allowed him to stay in his community and has given him an honest living.
Omar Tecalco Mateo, Young Indigenous Beekeeper Leader said, "This project has greatly benefited us. Because, in order to have that initial investment, buying all 23 pots, you need a lot of money — money we do not have.''
Beekeeping, alongside other income-generating activities such as craft making and services within the tourism trade provide enough money for the group to feed themselves and their families.
Bees and other pollinators are essential for our existence, sustaining agriculture and biodiversity worldwide. With over 20,000 species of bees and various other wild pollinators, bees face challenges resulting from human activities, such as habitat loss, pesticide use, and the effects of climate change.
In recognition of the pivotal role that all youth can play in addressing challenges bees and other pollinators are facing, World Bee Day 2024 focuses on the theme "Bee engaged with Youth."
This theme highlights the importance of involving young people in beekeeping and pollinator conservation efforts, recognizing them as the future stewards of our environment.
IFAD is an international financial institution and a United Nations specialized agency. Based in Rome – the United Nations food and agriculture hub – IFAD invests in rural people, empowering them to reduce poverty, increase food security, improve nutrition, and strengthen resilience. Since 1978, we have provided more than US$23.2 billion (about $71 per person in the US) in grants and low-interest loans to fund projects in developing countries. Last year, IFAD-supported projects reached an estimated 130 million people.
