The beekeepers of Sine Saloum: How all-women team tends to Senegal mangrove

Experts say the management model can be adopted by communities across Senegal and elsewhere in the world.

Joal-Fadiouth, Senegal – Clutching a purse and clad head-to-toe in white protective gear, Bintou Sonko removes a small metal kettle from her purse and releases smoke into one of the 50 beehives nestled in the dense mangrove outside her town in Senegal. Pacifying the bees, the 53-year-old extracts a dark golden liquid from within.

In 2022, she, her sister, and several others in the 67-strong women’s cooperative in Joal Fadiouth, a town 100km south of Dakar, spent a month learning how to make honey, build hives, and interact calmly with the bees. Despite an initial fear of being stung, she is in no doubt of their importance in the mangrove.

For Sonko and her colleagues who have long been shellfish gatherers, their newfound occupation as beekeepers provides additional income. But as climate change and deforestation threaten the mangrove, many say beekeeping is good for the invaluable biodiversity haven and carbon sink that stores up to five times more carbon than tropical rainforests.

“Bees and honey protect the mangrove,” says Sonko, president of the cooperative, Mboga Yaye, which means ‘a good Serrer’ in the local language of the Serrers, the main ethnicity in the mangrove-rich delta of Sine Saloum. The delta was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2011.

Sonko explains that the bees pollinate the mangrove forest, creating more habitat for fish, shellfish, and shrimp that the women traditionally collect. But more importantly, she says: “It allows the mangrove to rest.”