An exciting project that helps women manage their own businesses has given women like Maria Banegas, in Chinacla in Honduras, a real buzz…
This Oxfam Unwrapped project identified bee production as a great way of getting like small producers like Maria to diversify what they brought to market. As well as the beehives – and bees – the 50 women were trained in basic beehive practices, and managing pests and diseases.
With the 50 beehives up and running, Maria and her fellow apiarists will ‘bee’ making plenty of honey – anything up to 500 bottles – and the money’s not bad, either. “I had never worked with bees before, and I did not know where to begin”, said Maria.
“My father used to use fire to extract the honey; now we know how to match the bee swarms” Maria continues. As the mother of five daughters, Maria is keen for the project to succeed: “I thank Oxfam for trusting us by giving us the project and training us. Now my dream is to multiply the beehives; so now we have to put all our effort into this for it to grow”