Pedro and Bento’s passion for bees has turned into a job and a form of environmental protection. ‘We started by chance – they say -. We used to catch bees in the mountains, in trees and holes. We did not know the techniques for bee breeding or honey harvesting’.

The harvested honey was not however selected. ‘We did not know how to do the honey selection – they explain – and, in particular, we did not know how to distinguish virgin honey from mature honey. We mostly lacked the technical part for proper breeding and production. We also did not have adequate beehives to practice beekeeping.’

Then there was the meeting with CELIM: ‘What changed is our knowledge of bee breeding techniques and the availability of suitable material’.

This guaranteed additional revenue, but also enabled us to help the environment. ‘We no longer cut wood in the areas where our bees are,’ they conclude, ‘and we do not allow fires to be started in our apiary.’ It was a turning point in their lives.

In the Province of Sofala, 58% of the population lives in absolute poverty and 37.5% is suffering from malnutrition. The Province of Zambezia is the second most populated in the country, with 78% of the population living in rural areas, 70% of which below the poverty line. The Province has 8,000,000 hectares of arable land, but only 18% is in use and has good potential for diversified agricultural production and an extensive hydrographic network. Agricultural activities are however subsistence-oriented and there is very little diversification.

The diet of the inhabitants of Zambezia and Sofala is not diversified because of the limited variety of foods and the population’s low level of awareness of the importance of a balanced diet, the need to eat an adequate number of daily meals, and the need to adopt adequate hygiene practices when preserving and preparing food.

Another problem is the use of rudimentary techniques. River fishing is carried out with inadequate boats and ineffective and unsustainable techniques, such as fine-meshed nets that catch fry. This, together with the degradation of riverside vegetation and mangrove forests, results in a decrease in the amount of fish. Beekeeping too is practiced using unsustainable techniques and equipment, such as traditional hives made from excavated tree trunks, which result in the loss of the colony during harvesting. In addition, the honey’s quality and quantity  are much poorer than those obtained with more advanced techniques.

Similarly, post-production processes are also underdeveloped. The lack of knowledge in the processing and storage techniques of fishery products and the lack of processing of agricultural products affect their difficult marketing.

The project aims to address these issues by promoting nutrition education and  by supporting small-scale beekeeping and river fishing.

Project overview

The project aims to improve the nutritional status of vulnerable groups in communities by achieving three objectives:

• Improved knowledge and awareness of the importance of a diversified diet through nutritional training sessions, cookery demonstrations, radio campaigns and distribution of information material on good hygiene standards and correct conservation principles
• Increase in the production of quality honey in the district of Caia through specific training on good beekeeping practices, improvement of productivity and product quality, distribution of beehives and beekeeping kits and thestrengthening of the links between producers and honey marketing points
• Enhancement of sustainable river fishing in the three reference districts through training on fishing techniques and fish processing, the preservation of river ecosystems and the construction of boats, distribution of fishing kits and the construction of solar dryers

Beneficiaries

• 360 fishermen (30 in each of the 12 fishing centres of Luabo, Mopeia and Caia) will be selected and trained in fishing techniques and fish processing and conservation.
• 80 women (wives of the fishermen selected for the fishing techniques training) will be selected for the construction and operation of eight solar ovens and dryers
• 300 women divided into 12 groups will be selected and trained in nutrition education
• 30 carpenters will be selected and trained on the most modern boat construction and maintenance techniques
• 70 beekeepers divided into 5 groups, selected in the District of Caia