Group empowers women, community in Bee Farming

From, Ene Asuquo, Calabar 

A Non-governmental Organisation, DEVCON-PADIC-Africa has concluded its two years project by empowering women and other community members in Cross River State in Bee farming and creating cooperatives.

DEVCON PADIC-Africa, a community based organization which has its presence in most communities in the state is funded through international donors to assist local farmers in the production of agricultural produce.

The Executive Director of the organization, Martens Egot made this known during the two-day workshop held at Ikot Esai community in Odukpani local government area, titled ; “Ensuring Iko Esai Community Forest Management Strategy”.

He said that the project has achieved its aims by improving the livelihood of forest communities especially women.

Egot, who expressed satisfaction on how the project has impacted positively on the community, said the two outstanding activities that solidified the project so far was the establishment of Eco-Guards and the bee farming, noting that it was exciting for the beneficiaries and the organization.   

“The community is interesting; they contributed a lot by cooperating with us in making decisions and their zeal and enthusiasm is really encouraging. I can proudly say that the project met their expectations, and they are happy that the project came this far.

“There are two outstanding activities that solidified the project, one is the Eco Guard, that inspected the community roads and forest governance, the people are happy about it, and the second activity is Bee Farming. 

“It is exciting for us and for them, the bee hives are flourishing and we are all expecting to get honey from them in a few months and sell them. Another important activity is the cooperative group for women. We need to upscale these activities for the near future.” Egot expressed.

In their remarks, the two resource persons, Wildlife Conservative Society (WCS) Mr. Tony Attah and the Director, Cross River State Eco-Tourism, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Mr. Clement Omina, had advised the beneficiaries of the project to use the skills to generate income through forest management and ll protect the forest from deforestation.

Omina charged them to appreciate and showcase their heritage by identifying natural resources that are not known to the world, especially the state government , stating that this would attract donor agencies and government support to the area.