Sweet Gold successfully completed
The Sweet Gold project which bp and its co-venturers launched in 2017 has been successfully completed significantly contributing to the communities’ sustainable livelihood generation through creating family beekeeping businesses and the first ever honey forest in the country.
The project, which is bp’s and its co-venturers’ major social investment initiative, has also equipped the targeted community members with required resources and skills to build and run their businesses.
Today the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev and senior bp officials visited the Samukh district to see firsthand the area where 110 000 nectar trees have been planted as part of the project and meeting some of the families who have built sustainable honey businesses.
During the visit Minister Babayev and bp officials also contributed to the “Green Marathon” campaign planting 2000 nectar trees for the Sweet Gold project together with representatives of local authorities and a large group of volunteers.
“We are proud to be bringing tangible and sustainable benefits for the people in the communities where we operate, said Bakhtiyar Aslanbayli, bp’s Vice President Middle East and Caspian, Communications and Advocacy, “The Sweet Gold project has fully met its objectives by opening income opportunities and building new capabilities in the rural communities. We are also proud that the project has significantly contributed to the tree planting and foresting efforts in the country. We believe the nectar tree forest created as part of the project will benefit the communities for a long time both as a source of bee-breeding and a major contributor to the green nature and clean environment.”
What is Sweet Gold?
The project initially started in March 2017 as a pilot one-year initiative covering 100 community members from the Yevlakh, Goranboy, Samukh and Shamkir districts by providing equipment, training and continuous consultancy in beekeeping and small farming.
The project was then expanded to cover two more districts - Agstafa and Tovuz, along the bp-operated pipelines. This new phase was for three years aiming to benefit additional over 400 community members and to achieve the planting of over 100,000 nectar trees for bee-breeding.
Tangible and sustainable results:
• Over the past four years, about $1.4 mln has been invested to equip the selected families from the Yevlakh, Goranboy, Samukh, Shamkir, Agstafa and Tovuz districts with necessary resources and skills to start up and manage their own beekeeping businesses.
• 530 families (2017-2020) have been provided with equipment, training and continuous consultancy in beekeeping and small farming;
• Over 6,000 active beehives have been presented to the families who harvested around 73 tons of honey in 2018-2020 with total sales of over $800,000;
• 110,000 nectar trees have been planted for bee-breeding in Samukh creating the first ever honey forest in the country.
