(ERGO) – Somali pastoralist Mohamed Muse is worried that the bees he keeps in his village in Eyl, Puntland, are no longer providing him with an alternative source of income during the drought.
As his livestock started to fail, he turned to harvesting and selling honey to provide a living for his family of seven in Ambare.
However, with scarce vegetation and water scarcity the bees have also failed to produce enough honey.
“The livestock are thin, and our alternative source of income has also been affected. We are now in debt and facing hardship, food has also become expensive,” Mohamed complained.
The last honey he was able to harvest was in July, when he sold eight kilograms of the valuable product for $200. This was important income for his family. Mohamed has been keeping bees for the past 15 years and has not experienced such a bad situation as they find now.
He is left with 50 of his original herd of 150 goats and 10 from his 15 camels. He still invests in feeding and watering them although they are thin and cannot be sold. He has accumulated $1,500 in debt supporting his family and livestock through the lean times.
“My goats died of starvation, most of them died in August this year. My family is facing a difficult time and we have lost our livestock that provided a lifeline for us,” said Mohamed.
Normally during the rainy season, the bees have plenty of pollen and after the rain the bee farmers smoke the bees out of their hives to extract the honey. At the moment there is no honey to be found.
Mohamed was not around when others in his area were registered for food aid and so has not been receiving any cash support for his family..
Ahmed Abdisalam, another pastoralist, has kept bees for 10 years. Only 30 goats have survived from his herd of 200. He is not able to harvest any honey either and is reliant on aid.
“I get $80 from an aid organisation and that money supports our food needs. We have received this money for the past three months, and we expect to continue getting it for another two months,” said Ahmed.
As a father of five children, he is worried how they will manage once the cash aid stops.
