Meet ‘Mama Nyuki’ - The new women’s honey collective in Hanang

We began with 35 traditional style hives in the trees. That is the only way we knew how to produce honey. When UCRT and Oxfam saw how all the women in our community were working together, they saw our potential and helped us by investing financially and with new modern-style hives” - Agnes 

Agnes, Maria and Mary-Francis are the three nominated leaders of a 50-strong women’s group using modern techniques and enterprising spirit to produce a record yield of honey in Hanang, thanks to a little help from Oxfam.

As Datoga women, honey has always been an important part of their families’ diet. It features strongly in traditional recipes and provides energy and reward to keep their many children well-behaved on even the longest days. What began as a local shared project to produce honey for their own village quickly became an entrepreneurial venture, as a UCRT and Oxfam partnership saw the women's effort and potential.

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The women now take turns caring for 50 modern hives as well as 30 traditional hives. The women’s bee-keeping practices are now a unique mix of modern technology with traditional know-how.

“Learning the modern techniques for honey collection is wonderful. We are so excited to see the difference between our traditional hives and the new hives when we harvest for the first time next month. Will the honey look or taste different? We don’t know! What we are sure of though is the greater yield we can expect from the modern hives. We use the modern hives, and modern protective equipment provided by UCRT”  - Mary-Francis.

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​The traditional Datoga hives produce a biannual harvest of 12-15kgs of honey. With their original 35 traditional hives, this meant enough honey for all the women in the village.
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“These new hives are expected to provide 25-40kgs of honey per harvest, with sometimes three harvests per year. “The extra honey will be sold at local markets and the profits will be shared among the women involved. We can get 10,000 TSHS ($5 USD) per kilo.” - Agnes 

​"The trick in getting the bees here in the first place is a traditional Datoga one. This is the burachand plant, the bees love the smell. It draws them to the area and encourages honey production. We have planted it all around the hives, and we take turns rubbing the hives with it to keep the bees happy”.  - Agnes