site.btaTwo Enterprising Roma Families Find Livelihood in Beekeeping
NW 18:35:01 16-10-2021
PP1832NW.108
108 ECONOMY - BEE KEEPING - PROJECT
Two Enterprising Roma Families
Find Livelihood
in Beekeeping
Sofia, October 14 (Iva Tontcheva of BTA) - For several months now Dilyan Nikolov and Detelina Dokova, a young Roma family with three children from Djurovo village near Sofia, have taken up beekeeping. Under the guidance of their mentor, apiarist Todor Pushkarov, they have learnt how to smoke the hives and feed the bees, and are currently tackling the intricacies of uncapping the cells in honeycombs and extracting the honey. They hope their undertaking will be successful and will become their main occupation.
The children, a girl and two smaller boys, also lend an enthusiastic hand. The family apiary recently even held an open doors day at which they invited their neighbors and media, as well as classmates of fifth-grader Tsetso, the older of the two boys.
Detelina confides it is not easy, but they have already learnt how to feed the bees when there is no forage and have been learning to winterize them. They want beekeeping to become their own small family business. Dilyan adds that they want both they and their children to earn money with honest work.
Nearly 70 per cent of the 1,200 village residents are Roma, mostly young and jobless. They rely on social aid and seasonal work abroad. And although there may be opportunities for work in nearby Botevgrad and Sofia, the lack of education brings their chances of finding something appropriate down to nil, says Djurovo Mayor Stoyan Stoyanov. That is why he is supporting the undertaking of several Roma families to try and launch their own small business.
Dilyan and Detelina, as well as another Roma family, have taken up beekeeping. Another two Roma families have opted for saffron production under the "Children with a Future - Farmers, Craftsmen, Entrepreneurs" project of the Bioselena Foundation for organic agriculture. The project was launched in June with the financial support of the Public Board Foundation of Telus International in Bulgaria. The foundation provides the technical equipment, as well as the mentors. The Roma families are instructed by three experienced producers who regularly offer their produce at the Farmers' Fair in Sofia: besides Pushkarov, there is organic saffron producer Stoyan Durkov and Vladimir Petrov, owner of a woodworking business in the village who has been working with the local Roma community for years.
The solution with Roma unemployment should be comprehensive, Petrov says. Efforts should be aimed to both parents and children, and mediators should work with the community on the spot.
The ambition of both the project and the Roma families is not only to produce saffron and honey, but also to begin offering them at the Farmers' Fest "Farm Produce" organized in front of the Ministry of Agriculture in Sofia. This is expected to happen in 2022. And if it does, the young producers of honey and saffron will stand up next to their teachers in their first business undertaking./LN/BR
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PP1832NW.108
108 ECONOMY - BEE KEEPING - PROJECT
Two Enterprising Roma Families
Find Livelihood
in Beekeeping
Sofia, October 14 (Iva Tontcheva of BTA) - For several months now Dilyan Nikolov and Detelina Dokova, a young Roma family with three children from Djurovo village near Sofia, have taken up beekeeping. Under the guidance of their mentor, apiarist Todor Pushkarov, they have learnt how to smoke the hives and feed the bees, and are currently tackling the intricacies of uncapping the cells in honeycombs and extracting the honey. They hope their undertaking will be successful and will become their main occupation.
The children, a girl and two smaller boys, also lend an enthusiastic hand. The family apiary recently even held an open doors day at which they invited their neighbors and media, as well as classmates of fifth-grader Tsetso, the older of the two boys.
Detelina confides it is not easy, but they have already learnt how to feed the bees when there is no forage and have been learning to winterize them. They want beekeeping to become their own small family business. Dilyan adds that they want both they and their children to earn money with honest work.
Nearly 70 per cent of the 1,200 village residents are Roma, mostly young and jobless. They rely on social aid and seasonal work abroad. And although there may be opportunities for work in nearby Botevgrad and Sofia, the lack of education brings their chances of finding something appropriate down to nil, says Djurovo Mayor Stoyan Stoyanov. That is why he is supporting the undertaking of several Roma families to try and launch their own small business.
Dilyan and Detelina, as well as another Roma family, have taken up beekeeping. Another two Roma families have opted for saffron production under the "Children with a Future - Farmers, Craftsmen, Entrepreneurs" project of the Bioselena Foundation for organic agriculture. The project was launched in June with the financial support of the Public Board Foundation of Telus International in Bulgaria. The foundation provides the technical equipment, as well as the mentors. The Roma families are instructed by three experienced producers who regularly offer their produce at the Farmers' Fair in Sofia: besides Pushkarov, there is organic saffron producer Stoyan Durkov and Vladimir Petrov, owner of a woodworking business in the village who has been working with the local Roma community for years.
The solution with Roma unemployment should be comprehensive, Petrov says. Efforts should be aimed to both parents and children, and mediators should work with the community on the spot.
The ambition of both the project and the Roma families is not only to produce saffron and honey, but also to begin offering them at the Farmers' Fest "Farm Produce" organized in front of the Ministry of Agriculture in Sofia. This is expected to happen in 2022. And if it does, the young producers of honey and saffron will stand up next to their teachers in their first business undertaking./LN/BR
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