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When Alex Tawiah and Georgina Nyarko first heard about beekeeping on their cocoa farm, they were skeptical. Could bees really help them earn a steady income?
They put their misgivings aside and decided to work with Goshen Global Vision, a non-profit that helps small farmers build sustainable livelihoods. With training and a small investment, the couple installed eight beehives on their land. They also worked to plant and protect native trees. While many farmers clear natural vegetation to make space for more cocoa plants, Goshen explained that bees need trees for food and shelter, and the shade they provide can even help cocoa trees thrive.
A year later, the hives have brought so much more than honey to the small cocoa farm.
Alex and Georgina now earn extra money from harvesting and selling honey from their hives. Bees help pollinate their cocoa trees, while on-farm trees add nutrients to the soil. The two combined have helped increase the couple’s cocoa yields, further boosting incomes.
“I was weary of keeping bees in the farm due to the safety risks it posed to our children who accompany us,” said Nyarko. “But we were assured of protective clothing for safe apiculture. This was a good decision.” Today, Alex and Georgina’s land is part of a growing agroforestry movement across Ghana’s Cocoa Belt. By preserving and planting trees alongside cocoa, farmers are not only restoring degraded land; they’re creating more resilient farms and new income streams.
Ghana is the world’s second-largest cocoa exporter, bringing in over $2.2 billion a year. But much of that success has come at the expense of the country’s forests.
Between 2001 and 2017, illegal cocoa farming stripped away more than 13% of Ghana’s forest cover. Without trees to hold soil in place, wind and rain washed away nutrient-rich topsoil. Crop yields dropped, deepening poverty.
These compounding problems further strained forests and the farmers who relied on them. “Most times [people] need money, they go to the forest and then they cut the native species and hunt for game,” said Mary Perpetua Kwakuyi, executive director of Goshen Global Vision. For example, farmers facing dwindling crop yields sometimes cut trees and sell the timber or charcoal to make ends meet. “Restoration without livelihood is just a conversation,” Kwakuyi said.
In other words: People don’t destroy forests because they want to; they do it because they have no alternative.
By Amanda Obuobi Amoako and Amanda Barreto Salgueiro
Source: https://africa.wri.org
