Bringing Beehives to a Border Village in Need
On Feb. 3, ONEArmenia, a non-profit organization focusing on building sustainable economies in Armenia, launched a new campaign to initiate beekeeping activities in the border village of Baghanis.
About 800 people live in Baghanis, a small village located a few kilometers from the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia, where the economic situation is dire. Most of the lands are inaccessible because of unsettled border issues, landmines, and occasional sniper fire. There is no industry in the region, and the lack of jobs causes high emigration rates, as the men leave to find work in Yerevan or in neighboring Russia.
“What’s at stake is the creation of sustainable income-providing activities in Baghanis, so that families need not be torn apart, nor uprooted,” said Patrick Sarkissian, ONEArmenia’s founder. “Our goal is for the people in a strategically important area to be able to live and thrive on their own land.”
“Bring on the Buzz” is exactly that. ONEArmenia and Sahman NGO are collaborating on a crowdfunding campaign to provide 18 rural families from Baghanis with 4 beehives each, allowing them to create a stable income and sustain themselves through honey production.
The funds collected will go towards made-in-Armenia beehives, bee colonies, beekeeping tools, and equipment. Each of the 18 families involved will receive extensive training in beekeeping techniques and will be assisted in finding market outlets for their honey production.
“We’re aiming for sustainable, lasting impact,” said Anna Aghajanian, Sahman NGO’s co-founder. To ensure the project’s sustainability, Sahman’s in-house beekeeping expert will regularly visit the new beekeepers for a full year, providing ongoing training and advice.
Beekeeping: A Sustainable Activity for Armenian Villages
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has described beekeeping as a helpful means to create sustainable livelihoods. Bees are low maintenance, as they typically look after themselves. Beekeeping is neither time-consuming, nor overly complex, but it is a lucrative trade. One beehive can produce up to 25 kilograms of honey per year, and in Armenia, each kilogram can be sold for up to $7. In impoverished border villages such as Baghanis, where a family’s income averages approximately $500 per year, starting a beekeeping business can mean the difference between local development and total emigration.
The installation of 72 beehives in Baghanis will not only improve the villagers’ living conditions, but will have a positive impact on the surrounding environment by bringing pollinating honeybees to the region, hence ensuring the preservation of Baghanis’s natural assets.
Bees are also known to thrive in non-industrial areas like the Tavush region, where the air is clean and the environment preserved. “Healthy bees help ensure the quality of the honey,” explained George Tabakian, Sahman NGO’s co-founder. “And while the climate in Armenia’s countryside is favorable to beekeeping, its potential hasn’t yet been properly utilized.”
Sustainability and Community
For the last four years, Sahman NGO has been working with similar villages in the Tavush region, and their model has already proved efficient. The NGO’s track record is impressive, with 30 greenhouses and 112 beehives under its belt in the villages of Barekamavan, Berkaber, Chinari, Aygedzor, and Nerqin Karmraghbyur.
For both NGOs involved, the project’s impact must go beyond the 18 families provided with beehives. “The future beekeepers have already agreed that they would give back to their community by donating 1 kg of honey per hive over 2 years,” said Aghajanian. “The donated honey will then be sold to help fund the local kindergarten.”
To help ONEArmenia and Sahman NGO make lives sweeter in the border village of Baghanis, share or donate to their “Bring on the Buzz” campaign by visiting http://onearmenia.org/campaign.
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Very interesting artical considering my son is at OofU studying cultural Anthropology, bee keeping and is Armenian.
I saw a YouTube video about the Armenian bee hive that looks like a tree trunk and is made so people don’t have to bother the bees. It’s a very simple design. I’m trying to find plans to build one or would like to purchase one. Here’s the link:
https://youtu.be/ixincTVcVpA. It’s also in Armenian:
https://youtu.be/66UX8ku0Xv0
Very innovative hive design which should be adopted by every beekeeper.