Beekeeping with Indigenous People in the Amazon

This year, one of our main goals has been to expand the reach of our stingless beekeeping project in Maijuna lands and we have been hard at work making this happen. When we started this project over 2 years ago, we wanted to be very deliberate and thoughtful about how, when, and where to grow. Many well-intentioned sustainable development projects fail around the world because they try to grow too big, too fast. Taking these lessons to heart, we only wanted to expand our project once we had strong proof of concept and buy-in from the Maijuna. Seeing both things on-the-ground made us confident that we were more than ready to expand into two more Maijuna communities.

Before expanding into these two communities, we engaged in thoughtful discussion and planning with community elders and leaders to make sure that they were fully onboard with the project and knew what to expect. Since developing common goals and expectations, our team has held several community-level workshops in both communities focused on teaching proper husbandry and management techniques as well as the biology and ecology of stingless bees. We have also been engaged in family-level work, which has consisted of working closely with interested beekeepers and their families to help them setup and maintain their hives. There is still much work to be done and many more community-level workshops and family-level sessions to conduct but we are incredibly excited by our progress to date. In these two communities, over 70 individuals from ages 7 to 78 have been actively engaged in the project and these budding beekeepers are now tending over 24 hives. Before starting work in these communities, no one was tending stingless bees and there were no hives in the communities. We truly think the sky’s the limit based on this strong start!

We are incredibly excited about how this year has unfolded and we know that the Maijuna are too. Seeing the interest, passion, and dedication of the new Maijuna beekeepers has not only been fun to see but it has also been inspiring and energizing. Please help us achieve the Maijuna’s vision for a more sustainable future by continuing to support our stingless beekeeping project. As we move into the holiday season, we can think of nothing better or more meaningful than to sponsor a hive of native stingless bees ($50) or a week-long beekeeping workshop ($1,000) in the name of a loved one. Any level of support helps and we cannot thank you enough for your continued support!

Over the past year, we have been working closely with the Maijuna as well as other partners (Amazon Explorama Lodges and Amazon Rainforest Workshops) to develop educational programs for visitors to Maijuna lands. These educational programs are geared toward university and high school groups from the US as well as ecotourists with an emphasis on conservation and sustainable development projects in Maijuna lands. A focal point of these programs is the stingless beekeeping project and we have trained the Maijuna to effectively teach visitors about the biology and ecology of Amazonian stingless bees as well as the details of the project.

These hands-on bee programs culminate in opening hives and doing a honey tasting which is always the highlight of the visitor experience. We can think of no better way to learn about native stingless bees than to have a firsthand peek and taste directly from the hive. And, the first question that people always ask after tasting the honey is: “Can I buy some?” In response to these requests, we have been working with the Maijuna to develop a marketing and sales strategy that earns them a premium price for their honey. For a 2-oz bottle of stingless bee honey the Maijuna earn $3 selling it directly to visitors, which is ten times what they would earn on the regional market! Our goal is to ramp up direct visitor sales as well as honey production in the coming months.

And, by the way, we have structured things so all visitors to the Maijuna community pay an entrance fee to take part in the educational programs and their visit culminates in a craft fair where Maijuna artisans sell traditional crafts to visitors. Over the past three months alone, 6 university/high school groups consisting of 130 students in total as well as over 150 ecotourists visited the Maijuna bringing in even more sustainable income to the community. All of this is helping to boost the income of the Maijuna which is critical since each family has traditionally earned less than $2 per day.

The Maijuna beekeepers are incredibly excited about the future of the project and we hope that you are too! New families are looking to join the beekeeping project and funding travel costs to their communities to train and support them is only $250. Thanks so much for your continued support and we promise that we will continue to keep you updated as this project progresses!