Beekeeping and honey on coffee plantations

The purpose of this 4-year project was to promote beekeeping as an additional support to coffee cultivation activities of the most adverse communities in order to create better plantation management as well as obtaining a sustainable economy.

It seems, in fact, that bees help contribute to the production of quality coffee, as well as obtaining a very exceptional honey and other derived products. Today it is an almost non-existent activity, which, if developed, could help the needier populations.

With this project that started in 2010, the Fondazione Ernesto Illy sought to create an environmental friendly “basic model” to employ in other zones and countries initially not involved in the project.

The group of coffee farmers, Calarama of Chaparral, in the region of the Tolima (central Colombia), was chosen to substantiate the potential of this project, which in part will be managed by the wives of coffee farmers.

To learn more, please read the results regarding coffee-flower honey report published in 2014.