Honey production in the municipality of Cuima, in Angola’s Huambo Province, is helping to reduce indiscriminate tree felling and uncontrolled bush fires, the administrator of a local beekeeping cooperative said on Friday.
Celestino Chifelo, speaking to the Angolan state news agency ANGOP, said the initiative brings together 98 members — each representing a household — who previously depended almost entirely on charcoal production derived from the unregulated exploitation of forest resources.
The cooperative was established nearly two years ago with technical support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (FCA) at José Eduardo dos Santos University.
Chifelo said the founding purpose of the cooperative is to promote ecosystem conservation and encourage diversification of the rural economy through sustainable livelihood activities.
In production terms, the cooperative currently achieves an average monthly output of 118 litres of refined honey, which is packaged in proper glass jars and sold at the main markets across Huambo Province.
He explained that the use of purpose-built beekeeping equipment, combined with ongoing technical guidance from the FCA, has been instrumental in ensuring product quality and maintaining consistent production volumes.
Beyond honey, the cooperative also produces jams and preserves made from local wild fruits, including loengo and maboque, as well as briquette charcoal — an eco-friendly alternative to conventional wood charcoal.
Chifelo highlighted a meaningful behavioural shift among cooperative members, many of whom have abandoned practices such as indiscriminate logging and uncontrolled burning in favour of beekeeping and other environmentally conscious activities.
The cooperative has also contributed to improved living standards among its member families by raising household incomes and generating new economic opportunities within the local community.
However, Chifelo identified a lack of access to financing as the cooperative’s primary constraint to scaling up production, compounding problems posed by poor road conditions and insufficient transport capacity for distributing its output to markets.
He noted that the cooperative is formally registered and holds a concession title over its operating areas — a legal status that qualifies it to apply for credit lines to fund the expansion of its activities.
Located in the village of Catchindongo, 54 kilometres from the municipal seat of Cuima, the Essunga Liogunja Cooperative has established itself as a model linking beekeeping, rural economic diversification and environmental conservation.
Source: ANGOP
