As we made our way from Kigali to Huye, we made a pleasantly unexpected stop in Muhanga District to meet with Jean Paul—a beekeeper and the president of one of the local beekeeping cooperatives. With Jean Paul leading the way, we briefly hiked up a hillside to see his 9 beehives and he shared with us some of the challenges he faces as a smallholder beekeeper in this region of Rwanda. One of those challenges was the changing climate. The amount of rain he has been seeing at this time of year is unusual and threatens the health of his hives. Secondly, he expressed that the materials needed to manage modern beehives, as opposed to traditional beehives, are expensive and short-lived though modern hives produce more honey. Nonetheless, Jean Paul explained that to nurture strong hives, it’s “not only materials” that are needed, “but also knowledge.” Jean Paul felt that the training he had received was not enough and that many people are interested in participating in beekeeping, but they don't know how to attain the knowledge they need. Afterwards, Jean Paul showed us the traditional hives he uses to catch bee swarms and some of the materials he uses.
Later that day, we arrived at our hotel in Huye just before the thunderstorm began and shared a dinner with Roch and Eve from ROBEEC and Willy from RAB.
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