Honeybee Centre

Bee World Project

Bee World Project is a not-for-profit organization whose mandate is to assist people from the poorer regions of the world to improve their quality of life through beekeeping. The organization supplies experienced teachers, equipment, honeybee livestock, and on-going expertise focusing on growing their client’s beekeeping operations large enough to export honey and beeswax to the world market. Their goal is to do this by introducing ‘removable frame’ beehives, stainless steel honey processing equipment, and internationally recognized food-safe protocols.

Bee World Project - Student - Pursat, Cambodia 

Bee World Project - Apiary - Pursat, Cambodia

The organizations first project was in Pursat, Cambodia where American beekeeper Doug Johnson spent three months, ending January 2010, teaching villagers modern beekeeping techniques. Doug’s visit was followed up six months later by Canadian beekeeper Jaquie Bunse, and then again one year after the initial visit by a Vietnamese organization who has taken over long term teaching responsibilities. International aid organization Hope International is funding the project in Pursat. 

Each project has a First Stage budget of approximately $25,000, which provides sufficient funding to purchase 60 beehives, 5 honey extractors, some additional processing equipment, and three visits by qualified teachers. During the first stage, the goal is to teach 30 people how to keep bees safely and profitably and how to handle honey and beeswax using food-safe methods.

Once the villagers demonstrate sufficient interest and skills, Bee World Project is able to provide them with the Second Stage of beekeeping that consists of growing their apiaries from two beehives to a dozen, processing their honey into jars for the local retail market, and processing their beeswax into candles, creams, and ointments. The Second Stage budget is approximately $30,000.

The Third Stage of beekeeping occurs when there are enough beekeepers and product to saturate the local and regional markets thus needing to advance their business to export levels. During this stage, Bee World Project teaches large scale honey extraction methods, honey storage, barrel handling, beeswax rendering and filtering, and also introduces the beekeepers to world buyers. The Third Stage budget is $45,000, not including the cost of acquiring or building a 6,000 square foot processing facility.

Overlaying the three stages necessary to bring a village from no beekeeping experience to exporting honey is the Bee World Project’s requirement that the villagers form a beekeeping association at the outset. The association’s central executive would need to share in the project’s long term goals and agree to coordinate training, care for project equipment, and to regularly assist the village beekeepers.

When assessing suitability for any region, Bee World Project will examine the species of honeybees available, the types of floral sources in the region, the socio-economic status of the villagers, and the desire of the villagers to commit to a long-term beekeeping project. Funding for each project is by donation, either through a private philanthropist, non-governmental aid organization like Hope International, or through an international service group such as Rotary.

Bee World Project is currently assessing applications for projects in Battambang (Cambodia), Calcutta (India), Iquitos (Peru), Jeremie (Haiti), Kitwe (Zambia), Las Colinas (Nicaragua), Liberia, Quito (Ecuador), Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Wampiti (Uganda).

For more information, please contact:

John Gibeau, Coordinator, Bee World Project

c/o Honeybee Centre, 7480 176 Street, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada V3S 7B1

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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