Why We Need Bees

Honeybees are essential to healthy crops and protect the environment.

Honeybees may be small creatures, but their environmental impact is huge. With their taste for nectar and fuzzy legs, these pollinating machines influence farming practices worldwide. It’s estimated that one-third of global food production requires animal pollination and 80-90% of this role is carried out by honeybees.

Here are five reasons why bees are important:

1. Bees are needed for pollination
2. Bees increase fruit and vegetable production
3. Bees are a source of income and food
4. Honey has many health benefits
5. Bee populations are declining worldwide

How Heifer Helps Bees and Beekeepers

Honeybees can help a family escape hunger and poverty, which is why we have incorporated them into projects in Honduras, Mexico and the United States. Here’s how it works in?the Leveraging Success project in Honduras.

1. A family receives honeybees from Heifer International.
2. As expert pollinators, the honeybees double fruit and vegetable yields.
3. The family sells the extra crops — and honey — for additional income.
4. The family uses the new income to expand their farm — and futures.

Farmers who keep bees see increased crop yields, whether they are growing coffee, spices or vegetables. Plus, they are able to harvest honey during the non-growing season to earn extra income, producing 60 pounds or more of honey each year.

The practice of beekeeping protects the environment, and farmers are trained to adopt climate-smart practices like diversifying their farms and producing organic fertilizers.

Five Easy Ways to Save the Bees

Because of their importance to our food crops it is more crucial than ever to support these little buzzing beauties. Here are some easy ways to help #savethebees.

1. Let Your Lawn Get Back To Its Roots
2. Just say No to Pesticides and Herbicides
3. Keep a Bee Garden
4. Shop Responsibly
5. Bee Informed

Help Fill the Hive - Send as Many Bees as Possible!

Your gift of honeybees to hungry families in need empowers them to escape the vicious cycle of hunger and poverty.

That’s why we launched our Fill the Hive Campaign to send as many honeybee hives as possible to hungry families by August 15!?Just $10 a month provides FOUR life-transforming hives for families over the course of a year — join our monthly giving program today!

When you give honeybees, you help teach families all around the world how to successfully care for their bees, collect honey and produce beeswax, candles, and other products to sell. You make a tangible and lasting difference for people in urgent need of a hand-up.

We know we can count on you to?sweeten?the future for a hardworking family today.?

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