Mountains are life says Vestine Mukamurenzi, an avid beekeeper in the country of a thousand hills (Rwanda)
Vestine Mukamurenzi is 36 years old, a beekeeper, a honey producer and a mother of two. She is one of 8 women members of the Imbaraga Karambo Cooperative, located in the Gicumbi district of the Northern Province of Rwanda. She has been a beekeeper for the past eight years and counting.
“I always thank God that I was born in a mountainous country. I don’t know what I would do without mountains, without forests.” Said Mukamurenzi.
She added, “the money I get from selling honey helps me a lot to develop my household. I can provide good and enough food for the family, and I pay school fees for my children, everyone is well clothed, and our house is well maintained. I am sure without mountains, I could not achieve all that.”
Vestine’s cooperative produces 200 kilogrammes of honey every season. A kilogramme of honey sells for 5,000 Rwandan Francs or 5 US Dollars. Her cooperative is one of many operating in Rwanda, the land of a thousand hills. Thanks to mountains, those cooperatives generate income from different bee products, including honey, beeswax and propolis (used in medicines) and other products such as royal jelly, pollen, bee venom and bee brood.
The International Year of Mountain Development 2022
We met Vestine in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, at an exhibition showcasing the quality of her cooperative’s products. The exhibition is part of the celebrations of the International Year of Sustainable Mountain Development 2022, where the “Enhancing agri-food value chains to increase the resilience of mountain communities Programme” was launched. The Programme is a joint initiative between the GEF Small Grants Programme implemented by the United Nations Development Programme and the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS) hosted in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This initiative aims at supporting Vestine and other farmers to achieve food security and increase the resilience of mountain communities.
Working together yields rewards for all
The GEF Small Grants Programme at the UNDP, the FAO-Mountain Partnership Secretariat and Slow Food International have been working together since 2020 to address the challenges mountains and the environment face through the initiative entitled “Enhancing agri-food value chains to increase the resilience of mountain communities.”
“I thank the United Nations and its Agencies, especially the UNDP and FAO, for the tremendous work helping us support farmers who live in the mountains. When they are supported to make their businesses thrive, it enhances the ownership of other biodiversity preservation initiatives,” said Juliet Kabera, Director General of the Rwanda Environment Management Authority (REMA).
“Through this partnership with the UNDP and Slow Food International, we have provided technical assistance, training and support to remote communities and farmers in Rwanda, ensuring that livelihoods are secured, and resilience is built and sustained.” Said Otto Vianney Muhinda, Assistant FAO Representative/Programme.
“It is crystal clear that people who live in the mountains are doing well in small businesses; they are creating jobs. On our end, we are tasked to support them, to accompany them throughout their development journey. In so doing, we are supporting poverty eradication strategies and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals of the country,” said Maxwell Gomera, UNDP Resident Representative.
Mountains provide and regulate up to 80 per cent of global freshwater resources. Mountains matter more for Rwanda (symbolically called the “land of thousand hills”) and other mountainous countries; they support livelihoods through farming, grazing, tourism, and natural products. They are significant havens of rare and fragile biological diversity, with many species existing nowhere else.