WEEMA will present at the 2018 International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) at Columbia University in New York on September 26th!
WEEMA will present at ICSD 2018 on our sustainable beekeeping projects in Southern Ethiopia and discuss how implementing modern beekeeping techniques has transformed the industry and improved the lives of local beekeepers.
Beekeeping and honey production have been major professions in Ethiopia for generations, but although Ethiopian beekeepers collectively produce a large output of honey, individual productivity remains low. This is largely because beekeepers use traditional hives and apiculture techniques rather than more efficient new methods. As a result, Ethiopia’s current annual output of nearly 55,000 metric tons of honey represents just 11% of the potential output for national honey production, according to the Ethiopian government’s estimate.
WEEMA's programs work to increase local beekeepers' productivity and income by training them in modern apiculture techniques, providing them with the materials to start using these methods, and establishing beekeeping cooperatives that bring groups of beekeepers together to share advice.
We are excited to share success stories from this program with other development based organizations the conference!
