The Member of Parliament for Bulimia East constituency who is also the Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Hon Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu officiated at the handover of beekeeping certificates to 30 members of his constituency after a 3 day training programme.
The beekeeping training program was conducted by Allied Timbers Zimbabwe (Pvt) Ltd in Plumtree as one of the 10 Smart Training the Trainer training programs the company is carrying out in all provinces of Zimbabwe.
Hon. Ndlovu urged ATZ to continue with the program of empowering communities through its Social Responsibility Investment such as beekeeping among others which will see communities benefiting immensely from proceeds.
He added that this project will see the sustainability of forests and the environment against fires and allow tree planting to go on unhindered when the program in all 10 provinces is completed.
The trained trainers are expected to return to their bases where they form associations which they will train and start beekeeping projects. ATZ also donated 10 hives to each trainer to help kick start the project and subsequently get up to 100/200 hives per association. On Harvesting, the beekeepers sell back the honey to ATZ which has already 3 apiaries at Mtao Estate for processing and marketing.