Beekeeping is an agricultural activity plays a very important role in the sustainability and development of rural areas. As it is an activity that requires a low economic investment and does not require large areas of land or land ownership, it can be practiced by small farmers and by families linked to the rural world. It is also an excellent option for creating one's own job or to allow an extra income as a second activity in areas where the labor supply is scarce. Furthermore, it is an activity that might contribute to empower rural women and reinforce her role in agriculture as it is easily adjusted given the multifunctional role they play and the fact that they are more exposed to unemployment. In Europe, beekeeping is an activity mainly developed by beekeepers with a low level of professionalism, who have little knowledge in the area, often acquired only through experience. Given the importance of this activity for rural development and for the preservation of biodiversity, their promotion is of utmost importance. The “beeB - Foster for beekeeping bridges through innovative and participative training” project will count on with the contribution of six European countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Norway and Estonia) to contribute for the acquisition and development of basic skills and key competences in smart beekeeping, based on continuing vocational training, in order to facilitate the process of innovation, economic growth and social cohesion, through education, training and personal development; to reduce disparities in the access to and engagement of groups with less opportunities, like family and women beekeepers, and unemployed people in rural areas, promoting inclusion and gender equality through formal and non-formal education, based on the use of innovative and digital technologies and continuing VET; and to develop and structure partnerships to promote work-based learning for the beekeeping sector and bring forth skills and competencies for people that are or intend to be beekeepers, and that don’t have experience and knowledge in the area. Thus, it is intended to provide family and non-professional Beekeepers, with training in the area, which often does not exist or is scarce and encourage new publics, especially women and unemployed people from mainly rural areas, to practice this activity. It is intended to meet the training needs of each beekeeper, using innovative and attractive methodologies that can be used at workplace, such as adaptive learning, micro learning, community learning, gamification, innovation spirals, cross visiting, pills of knowledge, infographics. It is planned to draw up a course curriculum, based on a flexible b-learning adapted to different realities and regions and on the exchange of experiences and knowledge among peers (beekeepers, technicians, teachers/trainers) and guaranteeing national and European certification / qualification. It also provides for b-learning training aimed at personalized learning and. This project will provide beekeepers and future beekeepers with a reference of skills in the area of beekeeping. In the end of the partnership, the beekeeping and educational sectors will have available an innovative course curriculum in beekeeping, both from a technical and an active learning point of view, that will result from innovating in education and training with the deep engagement and contribute of partners from different parts of Europe, combining knowledge, work organization, social and cultural differences, heritage, through an intensive exchange of experiences and common training, that will allow the team and participants to grow intellectually, technically, socially and contribute for deeper European self-knowledge and cohesion. The project will bring positive and long-lasting effects on the participating organisations and persons directly or indirectly involved in the organised activities, as well as on the beekeeping sector, specially at the nonprofessional, family and women beekeepers’ levels, also creating a positive trend towards the adhesion of new beekeepers. It is also expected to have an impact in other European countries and in countries sharing the languages adopted in the project, with special relevance to Portuguese and Spanish.
The present project aims at overcoming of the negative trends that beekeeping faces, at increasing the economic growth and sustainable development through ecological and good beekeeping practices. This objective will be achieved by delivering a course based on the exchange of best and innovative beekeeping practices, on cross visiting for the promotion and exchange of experiences and implementation of innovation spirals. To this end, we propose to develop a technical training course in a b-learning and participative environment, thus contributing to improve the beekeeper’s level of digital skills. Finally, we propose to carry out activities aimed at beekeepers, technicians and the public in general as a way of disseminating knowledge and fostering the exchange of experiences, addressing the current problems faced by beekeeping, good practices in beekeeping and new ways of promoting bee products. Public awareness and knowledge is also crucial for the survival and improvement of the bee sector. In that way, it is also intended to involve the general public through information and dissemination actions, such as “Bee Roadmaps” that allow to deliver attention to the importance of pollinators for the sustainability of nature and crop production, based on a participatory approach. EU countries have different traditions related to beekeeping, as well as different levels of training and technical support, so it makes sense that this project is developed transnationally in order to promote exchange of knowledge and experiences between countries. The project will promote new forms of cooperation at the European level, involving different types of organizations and stakeholders, like official services, education and training institutions, small enterprises, agricultural organizations, farmers associations and others. All intervenient will collaborate in the development, promotion and dissemination of results, at international, national and regional level.
Beekeeping is an art which has been practiced for thousands of years and has assumed a growing importance both as a production activity (honey, wax, propolis, royal jelly, etc) and has a critical pillar sustaining biodiversity by providing essential pollination for a wide range of crops and wild plants. In fact the majority of crops grown in the Europe depend on insect pollination and 71% of them on bee pollination. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) is the most commonly managed bee in the world. In recent years, humankind has witnessed a reduction in the number of bees, not only due to the diseases that afflict them, but also as a result of intensive agriculture and pesticide use, starvation and poor bee nutrition and environmental changes. In addition, the recent invasion of the Asian hornet worsened the situation because of its predatory action on bees. Furthermore, the end of the beekeeping activity as we know it will threaten the survival of the species Apis mellifera because of its total dependence on man beekeeping practices. There is therefore an urgent need to adopt measures to protect and promote beekeeping and beekeepers. That is one of the European Commission priorities, that has a strategy for tackling the decline in bee numbers across Europe, to protect the health of bees and to support beekeepers (https://ec.europa.eu/food/animals/live_animals/bees/health_en). In the European Union (EU), the number of beekeepers is slightly declining, but the number of beehives remains stable. A similar scenario occurs in Portugal, where the number of hives has increased, reflecting the increase in the size of bee farms. In terms of honey production, even though the EU is the world's second largest producer, it does not produce enough honey to meet the domestic demand. At the level of professionalization (number of farms with more than 150 hives) in 2016 in the EU, they were only 3.98% of professional beekeepers, meaning that a majority are small and family beekeepers or family farmers with a marginal beekeeping activity. Beekeeping is often promoted in the context of rural development because it provides monetary, nutritional, and social benefits to smaller farmers and families, without requiring land ownership or large amounts of capital investment. For similar reasons, beekeeping is also cited as a practice that has the potential to empower rural women and reduce unemployment. Given the (1) high importance of non-professionalized beekeepers in the EU, coupled with the (2) different education and training background of people having a beekeeping activity, as well as the (3) lack of specific training in this area, specially focused on modern beekeeping practices (including attention to nutrition, health, and environmental pressures), it seemed important to deliver a b-learning course in modern beekeeping to be built and shared by several countries, thereby fostering cooperation between countries for innovation in the sector, as well as the exchange of good practices. Thus, the beeB project emerged as an opporunity to answer these challenges