As part of the ongoing and growing relationship between Winrock Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) in Guinea and the Peace Corps, Winrock’s Guinea County Director, Ibrahima Diallo, and Program Assistant, Ousmane Diallo attended and presented at the Peace Corps Partners’ Fair in May 2019. They shared information about F2F in Guinea, as well as the benefits of a partnership with Peace Corps, including having Peace Corps volunteers bring information back to the villages they are volunteering in, and through replication, expanding the best practices from F2F training more broadly throughout Guinea.

As a testament to the deepening relationship between both organizations, Peace Corps Guinea Country Director requested two F2F volunteers to support their Food Security Training, focusing on beekeeping and nutrition. Scopes of work are currently being developed with the dual purpose of training both Peace Corps volunteers and their beneficiaries, as well as other hosts in Guinea.

Volunteer Andrew Tonks works with Peace Corp and GAIN members.

By deepening the relationship with Peace Corps, Winrock is achieving the F2F goals in Guinea of improving rural livelihood development and agriculture education and training, as well as promoting agricultural growth and cross-cultural understanding through technical assistance from skilled F2F volunteers.

Volunteer Janet Buresh looks on as Peace Corp and COJDAGUI member work together during training.

The fourth in our series of introductory blogs again comes from Senegal, which has the largest number of Winrock F2F staff in-country. 

My name is Youssouph Sane and I’m one of the Winrock Drivers. After I earned a Baccalaureate degree I joined the Army for two years where I got my military driving license which afterward turned it to a civil driving license.

I then worked for security companies like Phoenix and Sagam. For Sagam, I was posted as a vigil in a bank. After work, I used to volunteer as a driving school instructor for one year and a half. I was inspired when English people who came to the bank needed help and I struggled to give them information with my low-level English. So I started English classes for four hours a week. It was not enough for me but it was fine. After 4 years I got a promotion as a driver in the Sagam security company so I  stopped English classes. It was an opportunity and an experience for me to become familiar with Senegalese traffic regulations and I realized really how hard it is to drive in a big city like Dakar for more than eight hours a day or at night without stopping. One day, as I was passing by Winrock’s office I saw the Winrock sign and thought to apply for a job; so I did and was called for an interview. A couple of weeks later I got the job.

My favorite pastimes are exercising; watching soccer and movies on tv; being with my lovely daughters and conversing with people.

Working for an American company was my dream because of their hardworking attitude, seriousness, and pay. It is also an opportunity to improve my English.

I have learned a lot from F2F volunteers about pruning, making compost, and constructing drip irrigation from local material but I haven’t applied any of the volunteers’ technique so far because I have yet to have the opportunity. Volunteers helped me a lot because being with them pushes me to practice English and now I know many things about American culture.

Pick up/drop off, assisting for the volunteers and supporting the staff are the most interesting parts of my job.

Once there was a volunteer who didn’t find her luggage when she arrived at Dakar’s airport. So we canceled the trip for the next day; therefore, she stayed in Dakar longer than planned. In order to catch up and not change her training agenda, we had to make the return trip in one day, therefore, we traveled the whole day from Kolda to Dakar (a 7-10 hour car ride) and it was very tough journey because of the distance.

Senegal Team

Today, April 22, we celebrate Earth Day. The 2019 Earth Day campaign centers on the protection of animal species. The Earth Day network notes that “All living things have an intrinsic value, and each plays a unique role in the complex web of life. We must work together to protect endangered and threatened species.”

Among those species are bees.

Bees provide economic opportunity for farmers. Beekeepers can sell the honey and use the beeswax to make value-added products like candles or lotions. Bees are not only important for their honey production, but they are also critical for the environment in their role as pollinators. Farmers benefit from bees’ pollinator role in the ecosystem, as bees pollinate 70% of crop species that feed 90% of the world’s population.[1] Many plants—including food crops—would not survive without bees’ pollination role in the ecosystem[2].  Bees are vital for healthy agricultural systems.

Verifying final honey product

Winrock, via the USAID Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program, has fielded over 120 volunteer assignments to support beekeepers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. As Winrock dives into the implementation of the West Africa Farmer-to-Farmer program, below are some recent impacts of beekeeping assignments in the region:

• In Guinea, F2F trained the Beekeepers Federation’s trainers, who replicated the training to 32 groups (827 producers). Techniques widely shared include natural methods to keep ants away, making beeswax products and better hive management. With these technical improvements, in addition to organizational development support, the Federation was able to negotiate a new contract with pre-payment. Sales doubled in just two years.
• In Senegal, the International Center for Practical Training in Mboro-Beekeeping Division replicated training in improved beekeeping among 8,427 beekeeping community members. The training included specific modules on parasite and disease management and harvesting and processing of by-products. The Center’s successful application of improved beekeeping has led to a partnership with Grande Cote Operation-Zircon, whereby the Center will train GCOZ’s staff.
• F2F trained the Honey Producers Microenterprise of Ley Miro, Guinea, in topics related to governance and technical subjects related to the quality of honey and production of byproducts from beeswax. The organization was able to roll out five new or improved products, including soaps and clean honey, to the market. The members were also able to replicate the training to two additional organizations.

Girls testing lotion made during training

All these activities support bee populations and amplify the importance of a bee’s role in our ecosystem.

As a volunteer, what can you do to support bee populations and Mother Earth? Whether you are providing technical assistance to farmers in the field or designing an agricultural curriculum with a university, discourage the use of pesticides. The widespread use of pesticides destroys bee habitats and kills bees. Instead, encourage natural integrated pest management practice and multi-cropping practices that diversify and increase bee habitats.

Making Soap with Honey

[1] http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20140502-what-if-bees-went-extinct

[2] National Resources Defense Council. “Bee Facts.” 2011.

L-R: Jen Snow, Associate Director; Ibro Diallo, Guinea Country Director; Mike Bassey, Nigeria Country Director

Mike Bassey joined Winrock International in April 2011. Mike is a Certified Accountant and has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Roehampton, London. Before his work with F2F, Mike managed the Drucker Center for Entrepreneurship Development (DCED) of the Kaduna Business School before joining the World Bank/Government of Nigeria Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) project. Working with Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteers has in many ways strengthened Mike’s motivation to do his own volunteering. In his free time Mike heads a Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God as a volunteer Pastor and enjoys fixing simple plumbing and carpentry.

I started out just like most young Nigerians: not wanting to study or have anything to do with farming or agriculture; I wanted to become a certified accountant. After achieving that goal and working in a for-profit, efficiency-driven environment, I felt professionally unfulfilled. However, when I began managing a World Bank/Government of Nigeria agricultural and tourism value chains development program focusing on opportunities for smallholder farmers to increase productivity, income and overall improve their livelihoods, it opened my eyes to the how rewarding the agriculture sector could be.

Working with smallholder farmers was  wonderful but working with F2F volunteers who each come with different skills offered me the opportunity to learn a lot and I now know what it takes to be a beekeeper, fish farmer, and trainer; increasing my skills in organizational development, institutional assessments, partnership development, recordkeeping, leadership, campaigning for safe pesticide use For instance, with:

Leslie Harris Cosgrove – I learned about business and project development for grant funding. I learned about the components and the documents (strategic plan, revenue-raising plan, and platform statement) required for successful grant proposal writing as well as the art of winning grant proposal writing. Two of the most resounding experience working with a) Leslie was seeing the faculty of the Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, Osun State rise from a practically zero Ph.D. research grants to 26 Ph.D.D research grants in three years following the 2015 training to the leaders and faculty of the institution; and b) the formation of the Net which she co-facilitated with Professor Chris Igodan of the Ohio State University.

A group leader delivers the groups project to the volunteer

Mathew Baker, a professor from the Texas Tech University –Dr. Baker and I had several great discussions  on leadership development and managing people. It was a huge surprise when, upon returning to the US, Dr. Baker asked me to do a one-page write-up on ‘community extension service’ – one of the topics we discussed during his visit. This resulted in a paper that was jointly presented by Baker and me at a conference at the Ohio State University.

Volunteer with Mike (center) and host members

Jolene Warnke-Roszel – I learned about the dangers inherent in abuse and pesticides misuse; to the applicators, farmers and their families, livestock, communities as well as consumers through air pollution, contamination of source of drinking water and farm products. I also learned about ways to minimize the hazards associated with these chemicals.

Jennifer Kushner – I learned lessons about general monitoring and evaluation and specifically learned how to develop a program logic model. I worked with the volunteer and the Nigeria F2F team to develop a logic model for the Network for Agricultural Technical Education’s Making Agriculture Glamorous and Attractive to Nigerian Youth Initiative.

Volunteer (center) with host members and Mike (right)

Teresa Morris – I learned so much about sustainable agricultural practices – best practices in natural resource (soil and water) maximization and management, composting, etc.

Volunteer discusses with the village leader

I have always considered myself fortunate to interact with these highly skilled professionals and benefit from these relationships. Especially since they provide me with a huge resource base for me to continue to leverage. The new program presents me with yet another excellent opportunity to continue to deepen my learning experience.

Bangladesh Field Team reflects on the successful impacts F2F has had on the Bangladesh Association for Social Advancement (BASA).  

“F2F assistance helped with specialty knowledge related to beekeeping including honey, pollen and royal jelly production. It has been immensely beneficial. The benefits continue as the trained people have trained others.” – AKM Shirajul Islam, Executive Director

Pollen production can be an excellent opportunity for the beekeepers of Bangladesh to maximize profitability and obtain sustainability, however, given the lack of knowledge and skills to produce high-value bee-products including, high-quality honey, the potential benefit of beekeeping as a business has not realized.  

Currently, Bangladeshi beekeepers are extracting only honey and wax from their beehives, whereas they can easily collect other high-value bee-products, like pollen. Pollen is an important high-value bee-product for its nutritional and medicinal benefit to human health and more importantly, for its use as nutritious bee feed. Bees feed on honey and pollen during the flowering seasons of nectar-bearing plants, usually eight months out of the year in Bangladesh.  The beekeepers suffer high costs to feed their bees in the flowering offseason. In that period, they use sugar syrup and pollen substitute, which do not provide good nourishment for their bees. As a result, the beekeepers lose a significant number of bees, ultimately affecting their honey production and profitability. When the bees collect nectar from flowers, they bring along pollen trapped on their legs which they use inside the hives to make their food. Pollen can be collected easily using traps at the entrance of beehives. Collection of these pollen grains using a pollen trap can help the beekeepers gain additional benefits from beekeeping which will lead to better sustainability for their business. Beekeepers can use a portion of the collected pollen to feed the bees in the offseason and sell the rest to earn additional income.   

Having worked a long time to improve beekeeping and organize beekeepers in order to develop a strong apiary industry, the NGO, Bangladesh Association for Social Advancement (BASA), realized the potential of collecting and processing pollen to help strengthen beekeeping as a profitable business. As part of this initiative, and with the funding support of Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), BASA worked with the Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) volunteer, Michael Embrey, to train 64 BASA staff and their beneficiary beekeepers on the potential, collection and processing of pollen, making pollen traps, and the different uses of pollen. The volunteer brought three different types of pollen trap as samples from the US for demonstration and helped design and build pollen traps applicable for local beehives utilizing local materials and expertise. During the training, the volunteer demonstrated how to collect pollen using a locally made trap and how to process the collected pollen. In addition, the volunteer conducted training on the improved beekeeping, marketing and partnership development for enhancing beekeeping in Bangladesh. 

After the F2F training, BASA built 118 pollen traps and distributed them among 118 beekeepers. BASA staff helped the beekeepers install the traps in their beehives and demonstrated the techniques of collection and processing pollen using F2F training information. Because of the endeavor, the beekeepers were able to collect 98 Kg pollen in the recent mustard flowering season from December 2017 to February 2018. The production level ranged from 0.65 to 1.5 Kg per beekeeper. This type of pollen production success is a first for the beekeepers in Bangladesh.  With this success, the beekeepers are relieved from having to pay to feed their bees in the offseason and they are planning to expand their facility of pollen collection as well as explore access to local and export markets with the assistance of BASA in the next season. Mr. Jagadish Chandra Saha, an experienced Beekeeping Expert in the country and Consultant at BASA stated, “Based on F2F training we provided pollen traps and technical support to our beneficiary beekeepers and have had tremendous results from them in producing pollen. We hope to disseminate these techniques to a wider section of beekeepers. We’re confident that this will add a new dimension and help flourish the beekeeping industry in Bangladesh.”  

According to Mr. Rezaul Karim, Value Chain Facilitator, BASA, the beekeepers who observed or heard about this success are very excited to install pollen traps in their beehives to collect pollen. BASA is planning to disseminate F2F volunteer techniques of pollen production to their 314 beneficiary beekeepers with special emphasis on young men and women in collaboration with PKSF, two other beekeepers welfare associations: Bangladesh Beekeepers Foundation and Mouchashi Kallyan Samities. Meanwhile, the Government of Bangladesh has emphasized to the Department of Agriculture Extension the desire to introduce beekeeping all over the country in order to increase oilseed production through bee pollination, as well as increase honey production to help increase food security. In this current context, the noble initiative of BASA is expected to expand beekeeping as a profitable and sustainable business and help create entrepreneurial opportunities for young, unemployed, rural men and women.