Bee Keeping Sustains Livelihood In Ethiopia

Farm Africa, an international NGO in Ethiopia, kicks-off bee colony project to aid villagers create businesses and avoid migratory exploitation abroad and unemployment at home by  supplying beehives to 200 landless young people in the Tigray region to give them a resilient means of making a living.
Ethiopia is Africa's largest honey consumer and producer. The white honey produced in the Tigray region is widely regarded as a national delicacy and is highly demanded across the country. The Tigray region is found in the northern part of Ethiopia, where an increasing number of its young population have no access to the land and its resources. Land for farming in this region is already scarce, and the available ones very small. 
Matthew Newsome declared to the Guardian on Friday 3 January 2014 in Ethiopia that ‘many young people risk their lives by migrating to countries in the Middle East to work in domestic servitude, while others are resigned to living in extreme poverty.’
Fixed in a situation of no opportunities to work close to home, Gebre Egzaibher, 21, felt compelled to take a dangerous job as a traditional gold miner close to the Eritrean border. He would stand for 18 hours a day in a river bed panning gold deposits for the equivalent of a £1 a day, and contend with occupational hazards, such as being shot at by Eritrean militias. He says "I had no choice. My father was sick and my younger brothers and sisters had only one meal a day. I needed to work to support them," 
This situation gradually increases life expectancy.  Plots sub-dividing potential of land reduces, leaving many of Ethiopia's young people with no assets and limited employment opportunities. This phenomenon of landless youth is already fast becoming a national crisis in Ethiopia where 30% of young people are unemployed.
2,200 families live in Gebre's hometown of Sero Tabia, where 560 young people are unemployed and have no access to land for earning a living. The prospect of earning money in Middle Eastern countries, doing construction work has pushed many young Ethiopians overseas. 
However, for some the dream has become an unachievable reality as their employers exploit them and ignore their rights. The Ethiopian government last December, 2013, ordered for the repatriation of more than 130,000 young Ethiopian migrants illegally working in Saudi Arabia and placed a travel ban on workers going to the region for six months. As a means to mitigate this crisis of land scarcity and escalating youth unemployment, Farm Africa, has begun supplying beehives to 200 landless young people in the Tigray region to give them a resilient means of making a living with directors based in Addis Ababa, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam.
  
Gebre smiles as he proudly puts on his bee-keeping protective clothing for the first time and delicately removes the roofs from two beehives to inspect his new bee colonies.
He says ‘I am very happy today because I know these bees will help improve my future security and give me what I never thought possible – hope.’ In his first year Gebre expects to sell 16kg of white honey after keeping 15% of his harvest for household and nutritional purposes. He stands to earn £150 a year and has the option of increasing production by splitting the bee colonies. Farm Africa's project co-ordinator, Desta Araya, says Africa's £31,000 intervention has a ripple effect that will set multiplying numbers of landless youth in Tigray on the honey trail. 
Courtesy, The Guardian