Father and son tackle unemployment through the safety of bees
SANDTON – “Our vision is to have sponsored apiaries that tackle youth unemployment through partnering with schools in underprivileged communities," says Shane Duthie
Bees play a very vital role in our ecosystem – from producing honey to the pollination of plants which help them to grow.
According to the National Geographic website*, bees are on the verge of extinction. Without the presence of bees, many fruits, plants and vegetables that humans consume every day, would not be present today. The world is currently facing a crisis of the declining of bees due to numerous factors and at the top of the list is habitat loss.
One organisation operating throughout Sandton assures that the safe removal of the bees is prioritised by carefully removing them and transporting them to locations where pollination and the population of honey bees are not disturbed.
Bee Kulture, a beekeeping conservation company founded by Shane Duthie, has been on a mission to eradicate the challenges that honey bees are currently facing in South Africa. The company does not only focus on the relocation of honey bees, but they also hope to further implement their sponsored apiary programmes across Gauteng.
The partnership with Bee Kulture and various sponsors, who are promoting the apiary programmes in Gauteng, are aiming to tackle the youth unemployment, the declining of the population of bees and the beekeeping industry in South Africa.
“Our apiaries [bee farms] tackle youth unemployment through partnering with schools in underprivileged communities. We offer learnerships to scholars and teach them the skills of being a beekeeper, setting up and running an apiary and selling honey. Suitable applicants who have completed the course will then have the chance to be employed in a role of maintaining and managing the apiary,” said Duthie.
“By stimulating youth involvement in the sector, we are also tackling the massive problem of our ageing sector. The average beekeeper’s age in South Africa is 56 – because bees pollinate 80% of the food sectors leading 107 crops, we need to ensure the survival of the bee population and therefore need capable beekeepers.”
Bee Kulture offers free educational seminars to schools followed by livestreams of beekeepers safely removing bees to give an insight of how the industry operates.
According to Greenpeace Africa*, a non-profit organisation based in Ferndale, Bee Kulture is one of the organisations in South Africa which is paving the way to a better society for many individuals, as it targets the development of the youth employment, economy and the increase of bee population which will most likely produce more food and honey without any disturbance from other insects and the loss of habitat.
Details: Visit www.beekulture.com
