[00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English [00:03.43]Development Report. [00:05.10]Some American students from Florida [00:08.52]are bringing the business of beekeeping [00:11.73]to farmers in a community in Ghana. [00:15.16]The program,called the Honey Project, [00:18.88]not only gives the students a chance [00:21.93]to own and manage a business. [00:24.78]It also gives them a chance [00:27.29]to help ease poverty in Agogo [00:30.59]through beekeeping and the sale of honey. [00:33.94]There are plenty of wild honeybees [00:37.77]around Agogo, [00:39.04]but there was no established market. [00:42.28]A businessman named Nathan Burrell [00:45.99]and some of his colleagues [00:48.31]came up with the idea [00:50.10]during a business trip to Agogo [00:52.86]three years ago. [00:54.43]"It was the ability to effect change [00:57.42]and impact the lives of the people. [00:58.99]As an entrepreneur and a business person [01:00.99]you normally look at market movement. [01:04.31]You look at what will sell [01:05.99]and what's the most profitable venture [01:10.55]to take on. [01:11.47]And trust me, [01:12.52]it wouldn't have been honey. [01:13.47]But it was the fact [01:15.05]that the honey had an opportunity [01:17.69]to really change the lives of those people [01:19.69]and provide them with a living wage." [01:21.97]Nathan Burrell says many of the farmers [01:25.49]in Agogo earn less than a dollar a day. [01:29.65]He calls the project an example [01:32.48]of social entrepreneurship. [01:35.18]It began with the planting [01:38.01]of ten to twelve beehives in the town. [01:41.85]Nathan Burrell depended heavily [01:44.84]on the beekeeping experience of Dan Warren. [01:48.76]He heads an environmental group in Florida [01:52.75]called One Village Planet [01:56.07]that works in Ghana and Haiti. [01:59.32]The Honey Project also partnered [02:02.79]with an American company [02:04.76]that sells African honey. [02:07.12]"All the profits and proceeds [02:08.93]that the students earned [02:10.42]went back into the reinvestment [02:13.02]of the Agogo venture, [02:14.20]of really trying to plant more hives. [02:16.80]I think there are over one hundred hives now [02:18.28]that have been planted in the village." [02:19.87]Members of the group [02:21.62]traveled to Agogo this spring [02:24.14]to provide more education and training [02:28.06]in the beekeeping business. [02:30.39]They also brought protective clothes [02:34.12]for the beekeepers and equipment [02:36.97]to gather and package the honey. [02:40.11]The Honey Project currently sells [02:43.87]a limited amount of honey in Ghana [02:46.92]and the United States. [02:49.08]The project also uses student volunteers [02:53.56]in Agogo to gather and sell the honey. [02:57.31]Nathan Burrell says [02:59.36]it is not a profitable business yet, [03:02.72]but the farmers are hopeful. [03:05.11]And honey is not the only bee product [03:08.89]they could sell. [03:09.90]"Everything from the wax to the pollen [03:14.49]to the royal jelly could be marketable [03:17.21]and can add income and revenue generation [03:20.37]to those cooperatives [03:21.66]that we're working with." [03:22.28]For now,there are no plans [03:24.69]to expand the business beyond Agogo. [03:27.61]But the organizers in south Florida [03:30.92]are looking to involve students [03:33.40]around the United States. [03:35.61]And that's the VOA Special English [03:40.28]Development Report, [03:42.06]written by June Simms. [03:44.25]Transcripts and MP3s of our reports [03:48.79]are at www.51voa.com. [03:53.12]I'm Steve Ember.