How Coffee Farmers Can Keep Bees: A VIDEO Guide

Coffee is a unstable industry. Climate, disease, fluctuations in the global coffee price, and simply the presence of a good harvest somewhere else in the world can drive down a farmer’s income. So for many of the smallholder producers around the world, crop diversification is a necessity.

Crop diversification provides producers with an additional income, and it can even be beneficial for the coffee plants: for example, banana trees or mahogany could provide shade cover. And beekeeping can encourage cross-pollination of coffee trees and even produce greater genetic diversity – something that is important for disease-resistant, sturdy trees.

SEE ALSO: Coffee Farming and Beekeeping in Latin America: A Path to Food Security

How to Keep Bees

While the primary aim of beekeeping is to produce honey, initially the focus should be on developing a strong, healthy hive (much like with any other crop).

Luckily, Garden Fork have created what they call a “101-level video” on looking after your bees. From feeding them to knowing if your queen is dead, and from creating a secure hive to recognising drone cells – those male bees responsible for inseminating your queen – it covers everything you need to know. What’s more, it does so quickly and in layman’s language.

SEE ALSO: Coffee Farming & Beekeeping: A Solution to Endemic Pest Species & Genetic Diversity?

Feature photo credit: GardenFork.tv

Please note: Perfect Daily Grind does not own the rights to these videos and cannot be held accountable for their content.

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