NMB smart beekeeping drive a boon for BBT initiative.

MOROGORO: NMB Bank has initiated a special programme to promote sustainable commercial beekeeping by distributing modern beehive gearing to make the trade a strategic growth sub-sector.

According to NMB, the financing of this programme, which will also be implemented in many regions, is part of the bank’s 6.2bn/- corporate social investment and sustainability agenda budget for this year.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism Permanent Secretary, Dr Hassan Abbas, said the undertaking complements the government’s endeavour to make apiculture part of the BBT initiative.

“Apart from the biodiversity benefits of bee pollination, beekeeping and forests play a significant but unheralded role in the national economy,” he said in Gairo District, Morogoro when handing over 200 sheds earmarked for beekeepers in the region. The beehives will be distributed equally in Gairo and Kilombero districts.

The PS was launching the eco-friendly honey production drive in Morogoro, which together with Tabora and Njombe regions will benefit from the distribution of the first 500 beehives under the programme.

Overall, the NMB programme to boost livelihoods and spur the economy will benefit over 300 members of the targeted 17 beekeepers’ groups in the three regions—Tabora, Njombe and Morogoro.

“Because of their enormous commercial, fiscal and economic potential, the government is preparing a strategic action plan to incorporate them into BBT,” he said.

The government has already taken some measures to boost the sub-sector growth such as investment of over 2.0bn/- to build seven honey packaging materials plants and the establishment of a special fund to support beekeepers that have disbursed 2.9bn/- in the last five years.

The two sub-sectors employ more than two million people across the country and account for 3.5 per cent of national output (GDP) as well as 5.9 per cent of foreign exchange earnings.

Dr Abbas also mentioned a related 27bn/- joint Tanzania-EU project being implemented in five regions, namely Tabora, Shinyanga, Singida, Katavi and Kigoma.

Speaking at the event held at Msingisi Forest, the NMB’s Chief of Wholesale Banking, Mr Alfred Shao, said the objectives of the programme included the protection of nature and mitigating risks of climate change.

The seasoned banker added that the venture was part of executing NMB’s sustainability agenda whose undertaking started in March with the launch of the campaign to plant a million trees across the country this year.

“It is through this agenda that today we are presenting this programme,” he explained.

Mr Shao said smart beekeeping practices do not only boost alternative income sources for communities living in vicinities of forests but also deter them from devastating forest resources.

The programme also involves providing entrepreneurship and financial education to beekeepers through NMB Foundation in conjunction with Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS). Beekeepers will also be educated on how to sustainably preserve nature and produce quality honey for local and external markets.