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Sikhulekelani Moyo, Business Reporter

MORE women than men have embraced the beekeeping project in Umguza District under an initiative recently launched by the Government through the Ministry of Social Services, Labour and Social Welfare to create employment for rural people.

Known as the Umguza Apiculture Employment Promotion Programme (UAEPP), the ministry is spearheading the project, working closely with key partners that include intergovernmental organisations, bee-keeping companies, small to medium enterprises, education sector representatives, environment agencies, and law enforcement agents.

The initiative targets about 500 beneficiaries and so far about 255 have already gone through preliminary training.

In an interview project coordinator under the department of employment services and promotion, Mr Proud Tshuma, said more women were grabbing the opportunity with more than half of the trained beneficiaries being females.

“Out of all the people who have gone through the training so far, 55 percent are women. Historically, beekeeping is usually taken by women if we look at statistics around the world and it is happening here in Zimbabwe as women are actually participating in this project,” said Mr Tshuma.

One of the participants, Ms Sidumiso Nyoni, said bee-keeping was a good project to empower locals to generate income for their families.

“We no longer want to wait for handouts from Government or from our husbands. After this training, as women, we will be able to earn money without moving around looking for a job. We will be able to buy whatever we want for our families,” she said.

The Umguza beekeeping project is one of the Government’s initiatives to create jobs in line with expectations under the National Development Strategy 1.