“Beekeeping has become a true vocation and source of income for all the women trained through our association, though none of them would ever have thought themselves capable of setting up their own farm one day”, says a delighted Mohand Ouamer Ould Braham, president of the Association for the Promotion of Mountain Apiculture (APMA).
His association is based in Aïn el Hammam, 45 kilometres to the southeast of Tizi Ouzou, (150km to the east of Alger), and for several years has nurtured Apiary School projects based in Djurdjura. This humble but highly ambitious initiative has granted dozens of enthusiasts – particularly young housewives – the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of beekeeping. Eighteen women from Aïn El Hammam as well as other areas in the Tizi Ouzou province – have set up their own farms thanks to the hives provided by ASMED. They have also received help in finding financial support related to creating work, for developing their farms.
One of the beneficiaries, Messad Djoudi admits that she can now earn a living through the honey produced by her hives.
The Apiary School project contributes to the development of beekeeping by helping some of the trainees to set up their own farms. Ten hives were given out to five trainees, three of whom were women at the end of their first training course. Learning is being passed on in a way that has almost become a tradition at the heart of the APMA association. “Our partnership with the NGO ASMED (Association for Solidarity, Migration and Exchanges for Development) means that other Apiary Schools are regularly set up, with support for obtaining a hive thrown into the bargain. We place a lot of emphasis on women from rural areas, having noticed a growing interest amongst them for beekeeping,” says the president of APMA.
Ould Braham adds that the methods taught on these training courses are those that emphasise environmental values and sustainable development, ensuring an organic product. Farming in the mountains makes it possible avoid the use of chemical products that have a negative impact on the environment and thus on human health.
The association is now spreading its work out towards all sectors of mountain agriculture, with other training courses being offered by professionals in cattle farming, poultry farming and rabbit keeping. A way of “opening out our scope for action and accompaniment”, emphasises the president of the association. In fact, the association has recently been re-named and is now called the Association for the Promotion of Mountain Agriculture.
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Source: The Straits Times, 24 June 2017