Red Rocks Bee keeping

Beekeeping as a business enterprise and market potential Beekeeping is a lucrative trade even using simple management techniques, but needs to consider local culture and economy for it to be successful. Beekeeping as an enterprise fits in very well with small scale farmers’ livelihoods. It is not invasive; bees work along the natural patterns of local agro-ecological zones and provide positive impacts to the fauna and flora found within. It is an enterprise that can provide for employment, income and economic security for the farm family and others in rural areas. It requires little start–up investments, does not require complex technologies and techniques to start with and bees usually look after themselves, with little need for tendering. Bees provide for a plethora of products (honey, wax, pollen, royal jelly, propolis, venom, etc.) and are well known in many local markets. This provides a portfolio of products that are sustainable in both production and consumption These products can also, with minimal processing, be ‘transformed’ into value added products, for example wax can be processed into candles, and honey can be made into mead (honey beer) Dietary contribution Bee products provide for improved nutrition and consequently better health for farm families and others in local communities. Honey is a useful source of high-carbohydrate food, and commonly contains a rich diversity of minerals, vitamins and others, adding nutritional variety to human diets. Honey provides for improved physical performance, resistance to fatigue and improved mental efficiency honey also is said to improve food assimilation, Pollen also contributes to nutrition Bees pollinate flowering plants and thereby maintain the ecosystem. Bees pollinate cultivated crops. Honey Production everywhere people know and like honey, a valuable energetic and healthy food and income source. Beeswax and other products Beeswax, pollen and royal jelly these products have many uses, and can be used to create income. Few resources are needed Beekeeping is feasible even for people with minimal resources. Bees are obtained from the wild. Equipment and tools can be made locally. Bees do not need the beekeeper to feed them. Bees collect nectar and pollen wherever they can find it, so wild, cultivated and wasteland areas all have value for beekeeping. Different sectors and trades benefit from a strong beekeeping industry other local traders benefit by making hives and equipment, and from using and selling the products and also Beekeeping encourages ecological awareness Beekeepers have a financial reason to conserve the environment: ensuring that flowers are available and bees are protected which encourages sustainable production and consumption Integration into the farming system Beekeeping fits in very well to small scale farming systems. Beekeeping does not require land to be owned and/or rented and soil fertility is not an issue to consider. Feed is also not an issue as they forage on otherwise unused resources: nectar and pollen. In other words beekeeping does not compete for other resources needed by livestock and crops. Bees complement crops with their pollination of farmed crops and this in turn can increase crop yields. Some crops, for example that benefit from pollination services are sisal, cashew, papaya, coconut, oil palm, citrus, sunflowers and clover. Some of these also provide to be good nectar sources for bees. Many of the inputs required for beekeeping can be sourced and made locally and do not impinge on other farm activities and required investments. Enhancing local skills, knowledge and traditions in many rural communities and not only, various forms of beekeeping have been in practice for many years. By introducing beekeeping as a business and building on pre-existent skills will improve the knowledge and capacity of small-scale farmers. This will enhance local traditions in beekeeping, while developing such an enterprise to the benefit of many in the local community. we welcome other interested stakeholders to partner with us in creating sustainable consumption and production