Causecast

Story by Annie Bergman | Heifer International Writer

In Honduras Industrious farmers improve their quality of life with the help of an equally industrious insect– the hardworking bee. This Heifer–supported microenterprise project is thriving in a rural mountain village where agriculture is still the main source of income for families.

Santiago de Puringla, Honduras – A thick, white cloud of smoke fills the air, helping calm the hundreds of thousands of bees buzzing around the green and white hives that dot the steep slopes above Santiago de Puringla.

As bees swarm around him, Rigoberto Bautista gently pries off the top of a hive and pulls out one of the many pine frames inside. “This is a closed cell so this will be new bees,” Bautista says, showing off the bees’ work. “That’s a characteristic of a good queen.”

Rigoberto Bautista—Rigo to most anyone who meets him—is a jovial man with a weathered face and hands that betray his 39 years. He and his wife, Doris Santos, 38, work hard to provide their two children a good life in this tiny village that is only accessible by a single-vehicle gravel path that winds over rivers and up into the Honduran mountains.

Two hours after leaving the paved roads leading to the nearest city, a faded yellow sign welcomes visitors to Bautista’s village, informing them that they are nearly 3,500 feet above sea level and that, at least at one time, there was a local chapter of Lions Club International.

The narrow gravel streets that run through town are quiet even in the middle of a June day. Trucks and motorcycles occasionally pass on their way to and from the central market where Hondurans gather to buy essentials like food and clothing.

Home to about 2,500 people, Santiago de Puringla is a microcosm for Honduras: small and poor with an economy based largely on agriculture, specifically coffee. The average monthly income here is $130.

But while Honduras struggles as the second-poorest country in Central America behind Nicaragua, this town has an advantage over many others that can’t be seen from the dusty roads: bees.

Here, high in the Honduran mountains, rural farmers like Bautista who toil every day for inconsistent returns from their farms are finding security in the centuries-old tradition of beekeeping. Through a partnership between the Cooperativa Apicola Pionera de Honduras Limitada—or COAPIHL—and Heifer International, these farmers receive training and hives in addition to the insects so they can successfully raise bees and harvest honey.

While the farmers reap the rewards of having bees to pollinate the crops on their farms, they also have the backing of the cooperative. With an established brand and markets throughout the country, the co-op buys and processes the farmers’ honey, sending it out for sale to the general public.

But the co-op does even more. Groups made up primarily of women are given machinery to produce beeswax sheets where the insects live, work and reproduce. The co-op also buys these sheets and distributes them to beekeepers. It’s a lucrative cycle for everyone involved. Average monthly income for area families involved in beekeeping can be up to $370, depending on the number of beehives in use and how much time is devoted to the work.

Founded in 1977 and based in Siguatepeque, the co-op originally worked with 10 to 15 honey producers in the field. Now, through its partnership with Heifer International, the co-op has more than 100 producers in the field, and both producers and the cooperative are more successful than ever before.