In Colombia, an example of how sweet reconciliation can be

“Honey came to our region to save us. Now, literally, we live with more sweetness,” says Sandra Márquez with a laugh when asked about Campo Dulce, the honey marketer that she manages and which includes peasants, indigenous people, families displaced by violence, mothers who are heads of households. and victims of the conflict.

“There is room for everyone here,” she adds, because according to this enterprising woman, “bees teach us to work as a team and live in community”. And it is that Sandra does not exaggerate when affirming that in Campo Dulce there are no differences. More than 1,000 families from the Bajo Cauca region of Antioquia (one of the areas historically hardest hit by violence in Colombia), work together to produce one of the best honeys in the north of the country.

The project was born in 2007 in the municipality of El Bagre, Antioquia, as an alternative for hundreds of families to have a source of work away from any illegal business. Five foundations (FIBARTE, ASCABIA, ASOPISNAR, ASOCUTURU AND LA RED NUDO DEL PARAMILLO) came together to find a sustainable activity that would allow the development and promotion of new productive options in a region that has had a mining and livestock tradition.

Beekeeping seemed like the ideal option. “Keeping bees is different from keeping cattle, for example. Large extensions of land are not needed, nor a millionaire investment and this was what caught our attention the most”, explains Sandra. The families took advantage of a species of tree native to the region, called Acacias, and there they installed beekeeping production units, to take advantage of the extra floral nectar that this species offers.

And little by little the bee boom took over Bajo Cauca Antioquia. Having one or more honeycombs was the wish of most families in the region. “The illusion was very great. We began to see how the people of the region came together, regardless of their origin, to produce more and more honey,” recalls Sandra. Gone were the illicit crops and illegal mining.

Day by day a new family was added and as a team, like the bees, the dream materialized.. The support was arriving and what began as a sectoral project, promoted by five foundations, was expanded and with the help of the National Government and international organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) these almost 1000 families became the queens of the purest and 100% natural honey in all of Bajo Cauca Antioquia.

Not in vain, for the UN agency, the articulation with Campo Dulce has allowed a significant advance as a Territorial System of Agricultural Innovation in the beekeeping chain, with an important component: the link between business promotion and entrepreneurship.

Training for the transition from illicit to legal crops

“We began to receive training in technical assistance, in good agricultural practices for beekeeping and that is how the transition from illicit crops to legal ones began,” adds Sandra.

Men and women who, for decades, by force, did not know any other way of earning a living other than businesses far from legality, today know more than anyone about honey and how it is made profitable.

Alejandro Álvarez, one of the producers that make up the association, remembers that it was hard at first. It took them hours and hours of training, but now the results are more than satisfactory. “At first we saw that we had to give everything to some intermediary companies, because we did not have the knowledge in all areas of production and marketing and we saw that the profits were taken by another company. So we decided to study, learn and seek connection with other companies to do better business.”.

However, for all the knowledge acquired to be applied effectively, technical and industrial inputs were required that, at the beginning, were almost unattainable for the families. It was there that the help of the State was essential. The Territorial Renewal Agency, ART, as the entity in charge of working with the municipalities most affected by the violence, was in charge of providing Campo Dulce with the necessary tools to produce the best honey in the region.

“With Campo Dulce we executed a project for the delivery of hives, supplies, tools, rolling mills, plant adaptation and technical assistance, for a value of 1,400 million pesos. In addition, we carried out the structuring of a project to strengthen agricultural production units in the area. These actions and many others are implemented to help productive beekeeping work and strengthen the project in the region”, adds Luis Gabriel Guzmán, deputy director of Economic Development, of ART.

Fabio Rodriguez

The beekeeping sector in Bajo Cauca, in the Colombian department of Antioquia, currently produces some 350 tons of honey, of which approximately 60% is produced by this project led by the FAO.

Secondary benefits, not so secondary

After 15 years of intense work, Campo Dulce is now the syrup with which Bajo Cauca Antioqueño has healed its past wounds. Not only did it become a profitable business, but, thanks to beekeeping, the flora was diversified and gave the women of the region a place that had been taken away for years.

At the Campo Dulce plants, 75% of the workers are women, a figure that her manager is very proud of. “Sometimes women have that vulnerable part that leads them only to dedicate themselves to their children, but working with bees has strengthened the line of gender equity, because it is an activity that mothers can do without leaving their children alone. “, He says.

“If we didn’t work as a team, no company would advance and women are essential here, at every stage. They are like strong and industrious little bees”, admits Alejandro Álvarez.

Currently, the beekeeping sector in northern Colombia produces about 350 tons of honey and approximately 60% is in charge of this project of this association of victims of the conflict.