National Beekeepers Association

The support will build my capacity to better manage the National Beekeepers Association. 

The funding will help to reach more deprived rural communities to train smallholder farmers, especially women and youth,  to adopt sustainable farming practices and understand the role of pollinators in their crop farming. The funding will enable me to fund the acquisition of training aids and materials, and acquire the services of subject experts to train the selected farmers. Also to acquire and supply beekeeping equipment to the trainees to establish apiaries on their crop farms to increase pollination services to double crop productivity.

This leads to higher farm income for the poor farmers. The increase in crop productivity means more crops to sell leading to additional farm income generated.

Also the farmers get to harvest the bee products such as honey and beeswax from their apiaries to sell and make additional income again.

The farmers then create nano businesses and employ the youth and women in the production and sale of honey and beeswax.

My vision is to see people in extreme poverty earning below $1.75 a day lifted above the poverty line and earning at least $3 per day.

As a son of peasant farmers who both died poor, I vowed to dedicate my life to assisting smallholder farmers to come out of poverty and live better lives. My education delayed a number of years because my parents did not have the money to continue my education.

In the year 2000 I formed a small farmer association known as Nkoranza-Techiman Beekeepers Association (NATBA), to train crop farmers in the towns of Nkoranza and Techiman in the then Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. The farmers were trained to adopt sustainable farming practices and integrate beekeeping into their crop farming to increase pollination services and double crop productivity. This led to farmers more than doubling their farm income.

Many more farmers from other regions of Ghana joined the Association. In 2011 the Association was registered at the Registrar General's Department as the National Beekeepers Association (NATBA).

Currently we have over 7,000 registered farmers. We aim at reaching at least 20,000 farmers within the next 5 years.

Agriculture is the centerpiece of the economies of most developing countries, especially those in Africa. Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are largely dependent on agriculture which employs over 60 per cent of the labor force and accounts for about 35 per cent of Gross National Product (GNP) as well as 40 per cent of foreign exchange earnings. Majority of the population in Africa resides in rural areas, with an estimated 70 per cent of the workforce engaged in agriculture.

Honey Bees contribute over $20 billion a year to US agricultural efforts through pollination resulting in the formation of a fruit or seed.

There are about 5 million smallholder farmers in Ghana to be trained to adopt sustainable farming practices. Poverty in Ghana is said to be a rural phenomenon and agrarian and there is high youth unemployment rate.

We train smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices and integrate beekeeping into their crop farming to increase pollinator services and double crop productivity. We supply them beekeeping equipment to establish apiaries on their crop farms.

We produce honey, beeswax, and natural cosmetics.

We increase the income of farmers, promote biodiversity, and employ women and youth especially in rural communities.

We educates and train smallholder farmers in rural communities to appreciate the role of pollinators in crop farming and adopt sustainable farming practices. We then support them with beekeeping equipment to establish apiaries on their farms to increase pollination and crop productivity to produce more food to feed the nation.

We train them to produce high quality bee products such as honey and beeswax to sell, and also add value to the bee products to produce natural cosmetics. We aggregate the produce and products of the farmers to sell to wholesalers thereby giving the Ghanaian farmers ready market and bargain with the wholesalers for better price for the farmers. As a result,
farmers make more money due to the increase in crop yields as a result of increase in pollination.
The farmers further make money from the sale of the bee products and the natural cosmetics.
Earning from 3 income streams. We are establishing businesses and employing women and youth in the production and sale of the bee products and cosmetics. 

We are planting more trees and establishing pollinator habitats, conserving pollinators, promoting biodiversity , and conserving the environment

We contributes to meeting the SDGs: Target 1.1 is: "By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.90 a day".

We improve crop productivity and produce bee products and natural cosmetics to sell so farmers earn more to get out of poverty.

" Target 2.4: "By 2030 ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity, production,  help maintain ecosystems, strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters,  improve land and soil quality". 

We train the farmers to adopt sustainable farming practices, integrate beekeeping into their crop farming to increase productivity.

Target 4.4  "By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship". 

We train women and youth to adopt sustainable farming practices and create employment.

 Target 15.5 is: "Take urgent and significant action to reduce the degradation of natural habitats, halt the loss of biodiversity and, by 2020, protect and prevent the extinction of threatened specie".

We plant trees to establish pollinator habitats and conserve pollinators such as bees and promote biodiversity.  .