Making the most of your mercy in Kashmir

Your mercy is building a sweet future in Kashmir

The devastating earthquake of 2005 highlighted the vulnerability of the remote areas of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. We’ve been working here since the earthquake, helping to support people during the emergency, and we’ve stayed ever since, supporting livelihoods and helping families to be resilient in case of future disasters.

The project acknowledges the delicate ecosystems of the natural world while also turning a vulnerability into a profitable advantage for local families. With the local environment particularly susceptible to climate crises, it is also perfectly suited to the cultivation of honey farms.

Honey has a long history of domestic farming here, conventionally kept in wall hives, but the earthquake put an end to that practice. In the aftermath of the earthquake we recognized the unique opportunity to scale up indigenous knowledge of beekeeping to create local livelihood opportunities, while simultaneously supporting the region’s biodiversity.

In 2009 we chose to launch this project using a local wild species of bee – Apis cerana. Without a documented history of raising these bees in colonies it was slightly unchartered territory, but one that had the potential for enterprising and dramatic success. After a cautious trial with 10 farmers that yielded success, we’ve since trained 1,008 farmers, including 158 women, with each receiving four hives. In 2024, we trained 165 new farmers in beekeeping in Pakistan through this project.

Farmers receive three days of training, protective equipment, and tools, as well as four hives. Even after successfully managing their bee farms, they have access to their trainer for as long as they need – even many years later.

Within just a few years, the farmers we’ve trained often triple their production to 12 or more hives. Some farmers who we trained five years ago are now thriving with more than 40 hives. 90% of farmers from this initiative have expanded to open more hives. In short this project empowers people to have not just a livelihood, but a sustainable livelihood with the potential for real growth. Some have earned enough to open a second business, build new homes and send their children to university.

Each year, we organize a honey exhibition at a state level, inspiring farmers to showcase their honey, build business opportunities and to share their valuable knowledge.

We blazed a trail, harnessing an entire industry; at the inception of this project we had to procure equipment and hives from Islamabad, but this booming trade has now taken off - with other farmers launching businesses completely independently. Hives and many other products are now produced and available at local markets.

We haven’t just stopped there. We’re constantly innovating and looking for ways to improve. We recently organized honeybee farming training for more than 100 students at the Zoology Department of Azad Jammu and Kashmir University, sparking students to conduct graduate studies on the Apis cerana, further developing regional knowledge of this understudied bee.

What has your mercy provided?

4,032 hives since 2009
97,000 kg of honey produced, worth over £1.5 million
Hives and training to 1,008 farmers, including 158 women
3 days of training, equipment, and 4 hives to each farmer
165 new farmers trained in 2024

How do we ensure sustainability?

At the inception of this project we struggled to find a specialist in this type of honeybee farming. Today, our trainer who has been with us for fourteen years, lectures at universities. With indigenous knowledge and experience, we’ve helped to launch a new industry in the region, benefiting not only the farmers we support, but local businesses and other farms too. It’s a unique farming model that took precise expertise, and the decades of experience that Human Appeal brings to all our projects.

Sustainability is built into the fabric of this project. Bees outgrow their space after an amount of time, and our farmers are taught to expand their hives, allowing them to not only sustain their livelihoods, but grow them. Our technical trainer is on-hand to answer questions that farmers may have about pests, expansion, and extraction for as long as needed.

Our advanced techniques preserve and support the local environment, and we’re also teaching farmers to use the by-products of bee farming – such as wax - to create more profit.

We always safeguard the vulnerable communities we support with rigorous protection policies and procedures.

And we look for opportunities to expand our farmers’ prospects and knowledge – we’ve collaborated with the National Honeybee Research Centre (NARC) to organise advanced training for 30 farmers on value-added products of the honeybee.

Our local staff have worked diligently for fourteen years to ensure that your mercy provides an efficient, ecological project with limitless potential that benefits all – the bees, the local market, the farmers and their families.

Quick donate

Select currency and donation amount

Change currency

£375

Quantity and parameters

Name on plaque, enter additional names separated with a comma:

Type:

Our admin fee enables us to make the most of your mercy

Delivering life-changing projects, overseen by experts who ensure safety, in some of the most dangerous and inaccessible places on earth is not an easy task. We are hands-on custodians of your charity, ensuring it reaches the right people with the maximum effect. To do this we use a transparent admin fee of 4 pence in each £1 that supports the staff and the logistics of ensuring that your mercy is delivered as you intended it, wherever that might be in the world. 83p goes straight to our projects in 30 countries, transforming and empowering the most vulnerable communities. Finally, we further invest 13p in the £1 to continue raising funds for the charity. Between 2019 and 2023, we grew our income by a huge 190% by raising funds through that small 13 pence.

A maximum of 12.5% of your Zakat goes to support our admin costs, which covers our monitoring of projects, protection of those we work with, and raising of more funds, helping to keep our projects safe, sustainable, and of the greatest impact.

Charity is a gift, offering endless mercy to those who give, as well as mercy to the vulnerable people who receive it. Our admin fee helps us to get your donation to where you intended it. That’s why we like to think of it as the stamp on the envelope of your mercy.

Making the most of your mercy in Kashmir