Beekeeping
Honey production gets district buzzing
“Four years ago we were living hand to mouth. Now we are one of the wealthier families in Baharak.”Nazak Mir, Baharak.
“Nobody could give us this much money even if we had worked for them
for the whole year. With the money we get from the beehives we run our
daily lives. You can't find a better business than beekeeping.”
This is the amazing story of Nazak Mir in Baharak, a remote district in
Badakhshan province. Given six beehives by Afghanaid in 1994, he has
now increased the number to 110. Each year he produces more than
1,000kg of honey, much of which he was able to sell in the market.
The bees seem free of the Colony Collapse Disorder which has decimated hives in Europe and North America and honey from Badakhshan is renowned throughout Afghanistan.
This success has been repeated all over Baharak – in 1992 Afghanaid
brought 21 hives to the area. Now there are more than 1,000 hives and
the town is the home of our ‘mother stock’ which is used to supply
families in other districts. There is an agreement that for every
colony given, one colony will be returned to Afghanaid the following
year. In this way the programme is extended to other villages.
As well as improving standards of living, the honey provides a vital
supplement to the local diet and is commonly used to treat illnesses
such as rheumatism, stomach ache and coughs.