Beehives for Protecting Luangwa's Watersheds - One hive costs $18

Wild honey production through the use of modern bar hives is one of COMACOs more exciting and successful business initiativeswe have launched for helpingprotect Luangwa's watersheds and wildlife habitat, but the landscape is vast and we have just begun to scratch the surface. The good news is that our processing techniques yield exceptionally high quality honey.It is all wild, organic quality that commands a good market value for the producer, whocan now see an economicvaluein keepingforests safe.

Sincelaunching this initiative, COMACO has more than doubled the value of honey for the producer,raising the price for the producer to a little over $1.00 per pound ($.50/kg). Current challenges are to dramatically scale up honey production and to encourage more farmers to manage their living trees for profit rather than cutting them down for cotton, charcoal or tobacco.

You can help by supporting the cost of building bar hives to help scale up this initiative. We buy pre-cut wood from a lumber mill, using white, non-native trees taken from a tree plantation, and we use transformed poachers toconstructthem in anassembly-line type production. Each hive costs $18. Our target for 2007 is to distribute 4000 new hives to 2000 families living in sensitive areas of Luangwas watershed. The recipients will pay back approximately 50% of the cost through a cost-recovery of about $8 in honey at their local trading depot. In return, the recipients will agree to maintain firebreaks around the patch of forests they are managing for honey and perhaps in the future even harvest wild edible mushroom.

Your donation, whetherfor 1 hive, 10 hives or 100 hives,will add significantly to our efforts to protect Luangwa's watersheds and wildlife habitats.
Click here to help us with a donation