Bees are great agents for rural development in this part of Africa, due to abundant pollen and nectar supplies. The project supported by The Africa Fund operates amongst the Lubara and Lingala people who span the Uganda/Congo border.

We are so pleased to be able to support work in DR Congo, which is emerging from a long period of political and economic difficulty with many greatly in need of support.

Honey was purchased from 150 Congo subsistence farmers during the last season, and The Africa Fund is supporting training for these farmers to learn apiary techniques (the picture above shows Stephen Ayila, the local project coordinator, taking us through the basics).

The project also provides improved hives that will allow repeated honey harvests - traditional hives have to be destroyed each year to recover the honey. The Africa Fund has also enabled the project to purchase a 2 acre plot to develop as an apiary. Already over 70 hives have been placed on site, but there is capacity for 1000!

We were impressed by the management of the project and during our 2007 visit we saw the equipment we funded in 2005 - all well kept and in use, including a motorbike for the project co-ordinator (see top right), bicycles for the ‘lead farmers’, a honey press, a solar wax kiln and sewing machines to make beekeepers suits.