Training Brazilian communities on the art of beekeeping

The Trocano Araretama Project is one of the projects that was supported by our carbon offset portfolio this past quarter. As part of its efforts to conserve an area of the Amazon rainforest, this project is providing education and benefits to local communities in the Brazilian municipality of Borba.

Through the project, two beekeeping courses were recently held for 62 local residents from the Axinim, São José, Purizinho, Piquiá and Caiçara communities. During the training, participants learned about stingless bee breeding and care, known as meliponiculture, and visited an apiary where more than 60 breeds of stingless bees are bred. Here they got hands-on experience building bee breeding boxes, handling the bees, and extracting honey from the hives.

This activity unlocks economic opportunities for the newly educated beekeepers who can sell the honey, wax, and other by-products, such as propolis. To get them started, each training participant received their own bee breeding box. The honey from stingless bees also possesses anti-inflammatory and healing properties and can be used to treat health conditions such as respiratory infections, skin conditions, and arthritis.

By promoting pollination, stingless beekeeping supports forest regeneration and biodiversity conservation within the area. It also benefits rural farmers who grow pollinator-dependent crops such as cocoa, avocados, acai, and Cupuaçu. Many of these producers participated in the training.

Socorro Soriano, is one such farmer in the Axinim community who grows plantation crops to feed her family and generate income. She is excited for the benefits that beekeeping will bring to her community.

“I think it’s great because it will help us in every way to increase our production,” she said. “We plan to plant more this year, and raising the bees is essential for a successful harvest…The happiness of planting a seed and watching it grow is inexplicable. The best thing for me is that you harvest and feed yourself and still be able to feed other people.”

Similarly, Joel, a local cocoa producer describes how the course and implementation of beekeeping will bring benefits to his own community.

Click here to learn more about the Trocano Araretama project and how it is catalyzing forest conservation and community development in the Brazilian Amazon through the support of carbon offsets.