By Slindzelwe Nxumalo | 2022-09-22
As part of the Standard Bank Luju Food and Lifestyle Festival’s commitment to supporting sustainable farming and community development, a portion of every ticket sold for the festival will go towards supporting and setting up beekeeping farms in Eswatini.
According to a press release from the festival organisers, this means that everyone who buys a ticket to the festival would be directly uplifting small-scale bee farmers and related services in developing areas in the country, with E10 from each ticket committed to the bee-keeping project.
It was disclosed that Standard Bank Luju Food and Lifestyle Festival, World Vision Eswatini and Emlembe Beverages, which produces healthy organic honey had partnered to use their skills and expertise to enhance the livelihoods of small-scale bee-keeping farmers and improve local honey production, taste, marketing and bee colony conservation in the Lobamba Lomdzala and Mahlangatsha areas.
“Luju means honey and so it is only natural that the festival should support bee farmers.
“Bees are essential to farming fertilising many crops as well as providing delicious, healthy, golden honey that can be used for food, medicine and cosmetics. They are also very vulnerable to climate change and pollution, which is why it is important to promote a robust bee industry in Eswatini,” the statement reads.
Support
It was stated that the aim of the programme was to support beekeeping and honey production with funding, equipment, services, market linkages and technical support so as to market and supply pure organic and clean honey.
“This would support beekeeping services such as crop pollination, as a means of making a livelihood for small-scale farmers, and furthering self-sufficiency in the honey industry in Eswatini,” read the press release.
According to the statement, World Vision Eswatini, which is an international humanitarian organisation whose focus is on the transformational development of vulnerable communities for the benefit of children, would facilitate, implement and supervise the project from an existing World Vision beekeeping project in Mahlangatsha, with the aim of setting up small-scale bee farming in Lobamba Lomdzala, where the festival is held annually.
“World Vision will also provide equipment and protective clothing required for beekeeping, such as bee suits, veils, gloves and gumboots,” read the statement.
It was also disclosed that Emlembe Beverages which is a bottled spring water and organic honey supplier in the country with a commitment to source local and promote Fair Trade principles, would provide technical expertise and equipment for honey production, mentorship and market linkages, including services ranging from tasting, packaging and marketing to beehive relocation transport services and securing apiary sites at orchard farms.
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