About 350 youth in Rumphi are expected to be provided with beehives and trained on bee-keeping to ensure that they are economically empowered while conserving nature.
In an interview, Total Land Care Field Officer for Traditional Authority (TA) Kachulus area, George Tikiwa said the project would empower youth and discourage them from encroaching into reserves.
“The challenge with natural conservation efforts has been that people living close to game reserves such as Nyika National Park and Vwaza always blame poverty whenever they are caught encroaching on the reserves for poaching arguing that they poach animals and make charcoal which they can sell to alleviate poverty,” he said.
District Youth Officer (DYO) for Rumphi, Misheck Msokwa said the support would go a long way in meeting youth interests in the district.
“This support will contribute towards job creation opportunities in the district. We will establish youth cooperatives taking advantage of the project so that they can access Agricultural Commercialization Project (AGCOM) grants to come up with honey processing and packaging centres,” he said.
The project will see Kampenda-Lusani and Mwazisi-Chinkhalamu Youth Cooperatives getting 100 beehives each, while Junju-Phoka and Chakaka Youth cooperatives will get 85 and 75 beehives respectively.
By Manasse Nyirenda – Malawi News Agency
