Relearning traditional knowledge for sustainability: honey gathering in the Miombo Woodland of Northern Mozambique | Land Portal

Informations sur la ressource

Date of publication: 
décembre 2016
Resource Language: 
ISBN / Resource ID: 
handle:10568/78551
License of the resource: 

Mozambique's Niassa Reserve contains Africa's best preserved miombo woodlands. Half of the households there gather wild honey from natural hives for consumption and income. However, most collectors used destructive techniques: setting fire to the grasses under the hive tree to create smoke and then felling the tree. Cutting trees to obtain honey was the principal source of tree mortality. Trees grow very slowly, about 0.25 cm diameter at breast hight [dbh] per year, meaning an average hive tree was nearly 200 years old. Furthermore, of the trees > 20 cm dbh of species important for nectar and hives, only about 15% had cavities. Although fire is intrinsic to miombo woodlands, the increased frequency resulting from anthropogenic sources impedes regeneration of some tree species as well as affecting bees, other wildlife and villages. A few people in the reserve had learned from earlier generations how to gather honey in a nondestructive way, using certain plant species to keep bees from stinging and climbing the trees using ropes to take the honeycombs out of the hives. Traditional practices included leaving the larval combs behind so the colony continued to grow. Previously, the older men who had this knowledge had not been willing to share it with younger men. The project arranged for one of the traditional honey hunters to participate in an international conference on honey collection with other indigenous collectors from around the world. This helped him recognise the value of his knowledge. The project team then arranged for him to demonstrate these traditional techniques to groups of honey hunters in nine communities within the reserve. A year later, monitoring revealed that many collectors had adopted these nondestructive techniques. They found them less time consuming, and appreciated that they allowed collectors to return to the same trees repeatedly to obtain honey. Sharing traditional knowledge made honey hunting compatible with the conservation of miombo woodlands.

Auteurs et éditeurs

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Snook, L.
Alves, T.
Sousa, C.
Loo, J.
Gratzer, G.
Duguma, L.
Schrotter, C.
Ribiero, N.
Mahamzule, R.
Mazuze, F.
Cuco, E.
Elias, M.
University Eduardo Mondiane

Corporate Author(s): 
Instituto de Investigacao Agraria de Mocambique logo

Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM) é uma instituição subordinada ao Ministério da Agricultura e Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (MASA), criada pelo Decreto 47/2004, de 27 de Outubro, do Conselho de Ministros. O IIAM congrega várias áreas de pesquisa agrária e resulta da necessidade de integração de esforços, bem como a racionalização e complementaridade de recursos e acções no tocante à pesquisa, desenvolvimento e disseminação de tecnologias agrárias em Moçambique.


Bioversity International is a global research-for-development organization. We have a vision – that agricultural biodiversity nourishes people and sustains the planet.

We deliver scientific evidence, management practices and policy options to use and safeguard agricultural and tree biodiversity to attain sustainable global food and nutrition security.

We work with partners in low-income countries in different regions where agricultural and tree biodiversity can contribute to improved nutrition, resilience, productivity and climate change adaptation.

Fournisseur de données

CGIAR (CGIAR)

CGIAR is the only worldwide partnership addressing agricultural research for development, whose work contributes to the global effort to tackle poverty, hunger and major nutrition imbalances, and environmental degradation.


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