Yebirgual’s Story: Local Beekeeping and Dairy Pioneer
Yebirgual proudly shows her savings account book
WITH SEVEN CHILDREN RANGING IN AGES FROM 2 TO 22, Yebirgual and her husband, Tewachew, must plan carefully each year to provide the resources necessary to support their large family. As they have built their plan over the years, Project Ethiopia has been there to support their efforts.
All of the children except the youngest daughter have attended or are attending nearby Girarghe Primary School. It is a school where Project Ethiopia has provided many improvements including new buildings, clean water, and composting latrines for students and staff. Today, their four oldest children are completing high school or attending university and the three youngest children are attending Girarghe Primary.
In the area of economic development, Project Ethiopia has supported the family, and Yerbirgual in particular, to expand their honey and dairy production by helping Yebirgual join the local milk and beekeeping associations and providing access to a Project Ethiopia micro loan.
Yebirgual is not new to beekeeping. In fact, nine years ago when she started raising honey bees, Yebirgual was one of only a handful of ‘pioneer’ women beekeepers in the region. She started small as you must be very careful when raising honey bees. Unlike the honey bees in the U.S. and Canada, the bees in Ethiopia can be very aggressive and require a great deal of skill to avoid being stung or attacked. That difficulty is also reflected in the number of women from her group nine years ago that are still beekeeping. Of the original 20 women beekeepers, only 6 continue to practice beekeeping today.
Asked what she enjoys most about beekeeping, Yebirgual shared that she loves everything about this work, especially during October and November when it’s time to harvest the honey. During these months other farm production activities are quite slow so the additional income from honey sales is critical to the family. It also comes at a time when Yebirgual and Tewachew must purchase exercise books and school supplies for their children.
Honey production in Dangla has become an increasingly profitable activity for local farmers. For example, six years ago, Yebirgual made around 50 birr per kilo of honey. Now she is able to sell her honey for 300 birr per kilo (around $6/kilo).
Foreseeing the need to diversify their source of income even further, Yebirgual purchased her first dairy cow six years ago which supplied 3 – 4 liters of milk every day in the beginning. Over time she has expanded her dairy production to include 5 cows and 2 calves. With two cows typically producing milk at the same time, she is now delivering 36 liters a day to the local milk association via a pickup station near her home organized by Project Ethiopia.
At the same time that she was building her honey and dairy production, Project Ethiopia encouraged Yebirgual to set up a savings account at her local savings and credit association. She started by contributing 50 birr per month and is now adding 100 birr per month for a total of 8,600 birr currently in her account! With her savings as collateral, she was able to borrow 14,000 birr ($270) last year through Project Ethiopia’s micro loan program at only 5% interest. She used these funds to build a proper shed for her cows and purchase high quality feed. With inflation rising rapidly in Ethiopia, loans such as these are even more critical for small holder farmers such as Yebirgual and Tewachew.
““Other banks don’t support farmers in this way like Project Ethiopia. Project Ethiopia is a pillar for us, by giving training, supportive farming items, and low-interest microloans. There are so many women farmers in Dangla just like me who need this kind of support.” ”
With all that Yebirgual has accomplished economically for her family, you might say that she has created a land of milk and honey on her very own farm!
