EP 10: Sustainable beekeeping in Bloemfontein South Africa with Emmanuel Moledi

Unlock the secret life of bees and discover how sustainable beekeeping is transforming food security, climate resilience, and livelihoods in Africa. When most of us think of beekeeping, we picture a guy in a suit harvesting honey; but behind the scenes, it's a delicate balance of ecology, innovation, and strategy that supports our entire food system. If you're passionate about sustainable farming, environmental conservation, or just curious how tiny pollinators wield outsized power, this episode will change the way you see bees and their keepers.

Join Kabelo as she dives into the vibrant world of Emmanuel Moledi, a young, passionate beekeeper from Bloemfontein. Emmanuel’s journey began during COVID, transitioning from delivery jobs to studying farming management, ultimately choosing the quiet, rewarding life of a beekeeper. He shares insights on managing hives amidst South Africa’s changing climate, battling pests naturally, and avoiding harmful pesticides building a truly sustainable operation that respects both bees and the environment. Emmanuel reveals why bees are far more than honey providers, they're vital for pollinating 75% of our food crops, from avocados to maize, and why their decline spells trouble for us all.

You'll discover:
How climate change disrupts bee activity and what sustainable beekeepers do to adapt
Practical steps for maintaining healthy colonies without harmful chemicals
The economics of small-scale beekeeping, including honey sales, bee removal, and future pollination services
The role of traditional and modern practices in creating eco-friendly beekeeping environments
Opportunities for youth in South Africa to enter and thrive in sustainable farming industries

This episode underscores why protecting pollinators isn’t just an environmental effort it’s a food security and economic imperative. Emmanuel’s story illustrates how young people can innovate within agriculture, combining tradition and technology to build resilient livelihoods and support broader ecological health. As Africa’s voice in global sustainability, this conversation bridges local practices with global challenges, making it perfect for aspiring farmers, environmental advocates, and anyone who cares about the future of food and climate.
Tune in for a candid look at the art and science of sustainable beekeeping because if we protect our tiny pollinators today, we secure a healthier planet tomorrow. Ready to be inspired? This is essential listening for anyone eager to make a meaningful impact at the intersection of ecology and entrepreneurship.

Music from riverisde; caveman, small world reveals and callisson.

Follow Candid Sustainability and Kabelo on Instagram : Kabelo Rathobei (@krathobei) • Instagram photos and videos

 Kabelo Rathobei (@krathobei) • Instagram photos and videos

Engage with the community and read more on Substack: Candid Sustainability | Kabelo Rathobei | Substack

Transcript

Kabelo (00:00)
When I was young, my sister got stung by a bee. We were at an event with my grandmother and she was having some canned cold drink. And yeah, the bee just came buzzing and it stung her. And I remember so vividly the sound that she made. from that day on, I was like, okay.

I'm done with bees, I don't do bees, ⁓ I'm not a bee person, And yeah, we also had a colony living inside a wall at my grandmother's house and it would always be buzzing, And my grandmother would always tell us, just leave them alone, just let them be, and I'd be like, Why are you not panicking? Why are you not trying to get these removed? But I guess she knew something at the time that I didn't know. I mean most of us really just grew up fearing bees or at best just ignoring them.

But here's the truth, bees are doing more work for us than almost any creature on the planet. And right now they're in trouble. And that trouble is well

Our trouble too because think about the last mango you ate or the avocado or the tomato that's gonna be on your plate this evening. A bee probably had something to do with it. Three out of every four bites of fruit or vegetable you eat exists because a bee showed up and did its job. No machine, no chemical, a bee smaller than your thumbnail. Well, it's been moving from flower to flower and just

Doing a lot of work. And I always wonder what does it really take to be a beekeeper? And like how do you do it? How do you put on that suit every day, walk up to tens of thousands of bees all buzzing at the same time and not run? What do you know that the rest of us don't? So today I'm going to find out and I'm gonna take you guys with me. I'm speaking to an old friend of mine in Bloemfontein

Who's doing exactly that? He's tending hives, learning the bees, building something real, and doing it all sustainably. Their story is what this episode is about. Join me.

Welcome to Candid Sustainability Podcast. A podcast about real conversations at the intersection of people, planet, and progress, hosted by me, Kabelo Rathobei In each episode, I sit down with change makers, practitioners, and everyday people doing extraordinary things in sustainability.

From careers in climate finance to youth advocacy, renewable energy, and beyond. We keep it candid and we bring an African perspective to the global sustainability conversation. Because Africa's voice belongs at the center of this dialogue and not at the margins. If this is your first time listening, welcome. And if you keep coming back,

Thank you. Make sure you subscribe wherever you get your podcast and do share this episode with somebody who needs to hear it. So let's talk sustainable beekeeping. Today's guest is a young beekeeper based in Bloemfontein in the heart of the free state, and they're going to tell us what it actually takes to keep bees sustainably

and what it takes as a young person in South Africa to choose this their work.

But let me give you a little bit of background before we start. 75% that is the share of the world's food crops that depend on pollination. So we're talking fruits, nuts, vegetables, coffee, avocados, mangoes, all of it. The food that most of us take completely for granted, they rely on pollination.

And bees are the primary pollinators doing that work. And they're doing it really with pizzazz, without a salary, and really without much recognition from us, But here's the problem bee pollination across the world is declining. And the reasons are a familiar list to anyone who

follows sustainability. So we're talking intensive agricultural stripping away. The plants, bees depend on are nowhere to be found. There's pesticide use that is poisoning pollinators alongside the pests. There's habitat destruction and overall climate change. Rising temperatures are altering flowering seasons, disrupting the synchrony between plants and pollinators that has held together for well millennia.

The timing is off

And when the timing is off, the entire food systems wobble. The South African Minister of Agriculture actually said something in one of his speeches last year at the conference of national beekeeping when he actually he actually stated that without pollinators and particularly bees, that our food system would simply not function.

This is not a niche environmental story. This is a food security story. This is a well livelihoods story. It's also a climate story, all wrapped in the body of something the size of a little thumbnail.

Kabelo (05:20)
Okay, so now let's get a little bit more insight from somebody that's actually doing this for a living.

Kabelo (05:27)
Tell me who you are, where you're currently based and what you do.

Emmanuel Moledi (05:31)
I am Emmanuel Tshepo Moledi I was born

in Lesotho, raised in South Africa. And I found my passion for farming around COVID time, which was like what, 2019, 2020. This is around a time where life was a bit difficult. I was doing like your Mr. Deliveries and just trying to get money. So then I decided, hey, man.

Kabelo (06:00)
Mm-hmm.

Emmanuel Moledi (06:01)
let me go back to school and yeah that's that's when I found my passion for farming and I went and studied exactly that so that's about a short thing about me and life.

Kabelo (06:12)
Okay. So you started so you actually got a formal farming education. That's how you got into beekeeping.

Emmanuel Moledi (06:19)
Yeah, so first it was first it started as I was just general farmer. So ⁓ can I say I started 2019 now I was transitioning from going from Mr. Delivery to ⁓ trying to do something more sustainable and meaningful. So I realized I don't know anything about farming. So around that time, Motheo TVET college came to the side,

Kabelo (06:45)
So Motheo TVET College is a public educational institution in South Africa that focuses on technical and vocational training. Its main purpose really is to give students practical skills and training to prepare them for jobs or entrepreneurship. So if you're a young person that's really trying to explore their options, this is a really great educational facility

where you can get applied skills and training for any vocation that they offer. So they offer engineering, business, IT, hospitality, and now as Emmanuel tells us that they also had agricultural management. So yeah, something to explore. Let's get back to Emmanuel.

Emmanuel Moledi (07:29)
Okay, yes. So generally around that time the government now was making initiatives and maybe also building more farming farming related ⁓ institutions. So 'cause there I think there was a loud cry for ⁓ agriculture and especially I think there was a time also where there was this land expropriation talk

So that that kinda boosted the thing of ⁓ institutions like Motheo which is a government ⁓ funded s college if it's if it's not it's part of that. So they decided okay, they're gonna have a small just a they call them satellite colleges, right? So it's either it's it's not like a huge but it's small. So ⁓ yeah, I joined

Kabelo (07:51)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Emmanuel Moledi (08:17)
the school. and then I I studied farming management. So that's exactly what I needed because as much as wanting to learn about animals and plant production and stuff like that, ⁓ it's things I've believed at the time that I I can learn these things like on the job, you know. So I needed more of the admin of how to actually run

Kabelo (08:24)
and

Emmanuel Moledi (08:40)
farm or an operation. So that was like perfect for me. So that's where everything else started. So ⁓ as

Kabelo (08:45)
Yeah.

So

yeah, so then how did you end up being keeping? ⁓ what is it that you actually do?

Emmanuel Moledi (08:55)
Okay, I like to consider myself as a general farmer, so I do more like mixed farming. so I do my number one is beekeeping. ⁓ I do crops. Your crops are your tomatoes and ⁓ green pepper. and I think spinach as well, but it varies. And then I used to do poultry, I left that. I used to do ⁓

Piggery, I left that. So I dropped quite a lot and just focused on bees and crops. So currently I'm doing beekeeping and crop production.

Kabelo (09:27)
And why did you specifically go for beekeeping? Why did you think that was a little bit more lucrative or interesting to go into?

Emmanuel Moledi (09:31)
⁓

Okay, so due to my experience, so here at home, I would like to say I'm I'm I'm I'm the one who is more passionate about farming in general. So as I was trying these different ⁓ activities on the farm, I was alone and having to hire people I couldn't afford to do that. So everything was literally on me. So I found that

was a bit labour intensive and then with pigs they they are really laid back I won't lie. I really enjoyed them. But in terms of profit margin to cost of raising the pig, the the they were not good. You would I would have to really scale up to see differences in profit. So I I felt ⁓ no I think I should drop

Kabelo (10:02)
Mm-hmm.

I see.

Emmanuel Moledi (10:16)
⁓ these and focus on beekeeping. So on beekeeping, I still had bees at the time I was still more like a it was still more like a hobby, still learning. And I realized bees are actually more relaxed and I get to have time to do so many other things as well. So I decided to venture more into the beekeeping and the more I did the more I realized this is actually what I love.

Kabelo (10:33)
Mm-hmm.

That is so interesting.

what goes into beekeeping? What's beekeeping actually? Explain it to me. Because not the only thing I think about when I think about beekeeping, I'm thinking, OK, there's this big hive. There's a guy up there who has the suit on so that they don't get stung. And then they go and get some honey. That's the only picture that comes in my mind. So what is beekeeping really?

Emmanuel Moledi (10:47)
Yeah.

I would say beekeeping I no I I don't I don't want to maybe put in a formal word but I'll try. beekeeping is basically managing ⁓ beehives and ⁓ also creating a sustainable environment where bees can thrive. So I'd say for me that is beekeeping which comes with benefits.

Of ⁓ getting honey and yeah, most I I'd like to think the biggest benefit is honey, but obviously you get pollination services for your garden, you get things like wax, and a lot of people ⁓ s are starting to learn more about propolis. so yeah, those are the benefits of it. ⁓ and very interestingly.

bee venom is also a thing. So B venom. B venom apparently it helps with ⁓ patients or people with like arthritis, or certain chronic illnesses.

Kabelo (11:51)
Okay, what do you do with that?

Kabelo (12:03)
Bee venom has real biological activity and medical potential, but outside allergy treatment, most uses are still experimental or not proven at a clinical level. And the risks, especially severe allergic reactions, are significant.

Kabelo (12:19)
really,

really interesting.

So you said you're based in Bloemfontein, right? Yeah, in the Free State, in the Free State of South Africa. So what's the landscape like for beekeeping there? it, I mean, I know the Free State is known for agriculture, often maize, I think, but what does a beekeeper find to work with that environment?

Emmanuel Moledi (12:23)
Yes, yes, yes.

Kabelo (12:40)
in Bloemfontein is is beekeeping a thing you know is it popular?

Emmanuel Moledi (12:41)
In the first day.

⁓

I would say in terms of different ethnic groups, it's popular on I'd say more to the European people. It's more popular than our ⁓ black community. they are they have more farms so they are able to keep bees and use them for their farming. And then with ⁓ black people I would say

Kabelo (12:57)
Mm-hmm.

Emmanuel Moledi (13:09)
There are some black farmers who who do utilize it, but not in like big numbers. And in terms of the community, it's still not something that us as people have groups or maybe I'm not in the groups but you know, I don't want to say hey, but

Yeah, like I for me I feel like I'm still a bit isolated as a young beekeeper or emerging beekeeper. But ⁓ I know of many other bee bigger beekeepers, like the beekeeper who introduced me to beekeeping. So ⁓ in terms of ⁓ also ⁓ they they use bees for pollination services for ⁓ what's this?

Kabelo (13:34)
No.

Mmm.

Emmanuel Moledi (13:54)
I think maize, but I think the biggest thing they use bees for is sunflower. So I'd like to feel in the free state ⁓ it's more of f sunflower and maize crops that they use 'cause I obviously once after you plant bo maize for soil regeneration, you would plant ⁓ sunflower which helps with ⁓ the

microbiomes within the soil. So they work together. So that's where they use a lot of bees and naturally around usually around bee farms, I mean not bee farms, farms that have sunflower you will find a lot of bee activity. So even if they don't do it, but generally around the the you will find a lot of bees 'cause then

Kabelo (14:34)
Hotel.

Yeah.

Emmanuel Moledi (14:39)
the colour, everything about the sunflower is just attracting to the bees. So yeah.

Kabelo (14:43)
Yeah, yeah,

absolutely. But in terms of the climate, I know there's a lot of climate change that's happening and the seasons just don't look the same anymore. Rainfall patterns are kind of different. In your farming and beekeeping activities, does climate influence you or impact you in any way? And what has this looked like for your operations?

Emmanuel Moledi (14:56)
Yeah.

Yeah, I would say ⁓ climate does definitely influence general farming actually, you know. so say in rainy seasons, I would say it's good kinda good for for bees, if it's not flooding of course, but there then there's a lot of pollination then around that time. There's just a lot of everything grows.

Kabelo (15:15)
Mm.

Emmanuel Moledi (15:30)
out of proportion. So that's that's good for the bees. But during drought times then that's where there's a heavy loss of bee colonies. And that's why it's always kind of like important for one to create an ecosystem where you look at plants that are drought resistant. yeah just creating an environment where different things

Kabelo (15:31)
mm

Emmanuel Moledi (15:53)
flower at different seasons so that there's like constant food for the bees.

Kabelo (15:58)
Yeah, okay. But I want you to take us through like a day in the life or like a week in the life of a bee keeper What does that actually look like? Practically, what do you do? Just take us through your day or your week with us.

Emmanuel Moledi (16:13)
Yeah.

Awesome. ⁓ so during the week like I don't know if I earlier mentioned with the bees they are creatures that don't want to be constantly disturbed, you know. So I try not to always be looking into the boxes and stuff like that. I just give them their space. so in a week what I'll do is I'll walk

Outside go to my apiary I have a certain place where I stand where I can check the different entrances. Then I check the bee activity. Okay, is this are they are they are they coming in and out properly? If there's like a difference in the movement, sometimes it will tell me if they are swarming. So swarming is when they are starting to split because maybe there's not enough space in the hive.

then that's when I can intervene and be like, ⁓ okay, this hive needs attention and then I'll do that. But ⁓ on a maybe three week or two week basis I have to somewhat try to manage and see if everything is okay because bees have they they are they are prone to so many things. Ants can attack them 'cause they also want food. ⁓ they are yeah, they are ⁓

Kabelo (17:07)
Okay.

Okay.

Emmanuel Moledi (17:28)
They what we call viromites, which attack larvae. They are bee beetles that eat honey or they eat the wax of the bees. So you it's it's always recommended that as a beekeeper you do check your hives regularly so that you can see that the health of the colonies are still good. So i in a week I'll just look for patterns and signs.

And then I'll go there. If there is something, then I'll check. Sometimes which used to confuse me, they will all gather outside in a ball and then I wonder what's going on here. But only to find out maybe it's too hot, so the hive needs to cool off. So they just some stay outside while the they regulate the temperature within the hive. Yeah.

Kabelo (18:04)
Mm-hmm.

Okay.

That's so interesting. That is absolutely interesting. So what does that mean if they get attacked Do you like, do you spray pesticide or like what happens? How do you then ensure that they're protected?

Emmanuel Moledi (18:28)
okay, so if they get attacked it would mean a few things. The hive is small so it cannot defend itself. So the bigger the hive, the stronger defense system it has because there's different hierarchies in the hive. There are guard bees, there are worker bees. There there's a whole lot going on. It's like a whole system in there. so ⁓ if they don't cannot defend themselves properly from ants, for example

Kabelo (18:32)
Mm.

Okay.

Emmanuel Moledi (18:51)
That means the the the hive is a bit weak. So as a beekeeper you'd have to find ways of seeing how around the hive how you prevent the ants from getting to the top of the hive. I've once I was so worried about another hive that it was being attacked that I put a bit of pets pesticide, only to find that a because the ant and the bee

kinda have the same organs, they are both affected. So

Kabelo (19:18)
Yeah, so then

you started attacking the actual bees.

Emmanuel Moledi (19:22)
Yeah yeah, so that as much as it was not directly up, but it affected the bees as well. So the then I lost the hive, that's when I learned okay, pesticides is a definite no. Yeah. ⁓ and then yeah. And then and then with the other diseases I've been fortunate to not have a lot of like beetles or viromites.

Kabelo (19:27)
Mm.

no-go area. That's good. That's good. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Now carry on.

Emmanuel Moledi (19:48)
⁓ but if they're such they are tools that you put in the hive where it's like it's like a small box, nyana, where you put like maybe oil, so these things will fall in there and get stuck in there. or sometimes I've been seen there's this where you it's is it there's fine sugar that's almost powdery, like you can put your your bees some of the bees in there, shake them up in there.

Kabelo (19:56)
Yeah.

home.

Emmanuel Moledi (20:12)
And then those viromides literally just fall off because they cannot grip. But I've been fortunate enough. I think because of my region, there's not a lot of those. Yeah. So different regions I feel like then you experience different diseases and all of those things. But for me it's more to the ants. My the there's a lot of ant activity. So that is my biggest challenge, yeah.

Kabelo (20:12)
Mm-hmm.

home.

Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, I want to ask you then, since you've already kind of touched on it with the no-go pesticides, and it kind of then segues into the conversation of sustainability. And I'm curious to know what does sustainable beekeeping actually mean to you practically in your work?

Emmanuel Moledi (20:51)
Yes.

Kabelo (20:57)
Like what are you doing? What are you not doing? Already we know you don't use pesticides, so that's a good start. But what else are you doing?

Emmanuel Moledi (20:57)
Uh-huh.

Okay.

okay, So to me sustainable beekeeping means working basically in harmony with the bees, which is ensuring that they have enough forage, and not just exploiting them for honey, you know. So also by creating a ecosystem where bees can thrive.

Kabelo (21:17)
Good.

Emmanuel Moledi (21:20)
even through drought or changing environment. So for me that that's what ⁓ for me sustainable beekeeping is is making sure that whatever I do and what the bees do is in sync. So for example what I do is sometimes when I harvest and there's like leftovers of some honey or some wax, something I cannot really ⁓

process or I I give them back to the bees and to reuse and build the hives again. So yeah, and also like I said, the environment is such an important thing. I think that's another thing that at first I also had the mentality, I'm guilty, of a I'm going into the I wanna make money with the honey. Yeah. You know, ⁓ then the perspective changed as I went.

Kabelo (21:47)
Hmm.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I hear that.

Emmanuel Moledi (22:10)
No, it's not even about honey. Like literally it's it's about our environment and these pollinators are such an important factor for farming in general and our environment. And they really Yeah, food security, yeah. They really they the there's been a difference even in the gardening here. Like things are much greener. It feels like there's more biodiversity now just from them being here. I'm seeing different bees as well.

Kabelo (22:12)
Mmm. ⁓

Right? Food security entirely.

Well.

Hmm.

Yeah.

Emmanuel Moledi (22:38)
So i i i yeah, I I'd say

That's my idea or thingy around ⁓ sustainable bee keeping

Kabelo (22:45)
No, that's incredible. Now tell me, since we're on the topic of honey, so you do sell honey, and what else do you sell as a product from your beekeeping activity?

Emmanuel Moledi (22:51)
Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, yes, yes.

So currently because of the scale I'm at, I'm still at small scale. So I'd say I'll only I'm only selling honey and I'm doing bee removal services. So basically it's the thing that brings more revenue in my business is the honey because then people are always ordering and then ⁓ bee removal services also bring in a proper cash in injection.

Kabelo (23:02)
Mm.

Okay.

Yeah.

Emmanuel Moledi (23:22)
But it's

not all the time. It's not all the time. So ⁓ those are the two. ⁓ I but the next stage is going into pollination services, meaning I have to now connect with ⁓ the different farms because I'm realizing the more hives I'm gonna get in the future, I cannot all keep all the bees here because like I said, ⁓ in terms of foraging and stuff like that, they cannot I don't want them to fight for food sources.

Kabelo (23:25)
Hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Emmanuel Moledi (23:49)
So

rather if they get a lot then I take them to different farms and then that pollination service ⁓ activity can start like yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Kabelo (23:59)
Okay, that sounds interesting.

So when you do bee removals, you then you remove the bees and you put them in your, I don't know, farm hive situation or what happens to those bees?

Emmanuel Moledi (24:12)
Yeah, yeah,

yeah. I do t like I'll bring I'll bring a box, do the removal, and then I bring them to my they call it an apiary so I bring it down here to the apiary where the bees stay. yeah, ⁓ so with that then I can monitor them closely and make sure that they can grow.

Kabelo (24:18)
Hmm.

Okay.

Mm.

Emmanuel Moledi (24:35)
into a proper hive. yeah.

Kabelo (24:37)
Okay.

Okay, So tell us, let's go a little bit into, yeah, let's touch a little bit on the challenges that maybe you've come across. What has been the hardest thing about the work that you do?

Emmanuel Moledi (24:41)
Yeah.

The hardest thing about the work I do, I would say like physically it's physically it needs you to be somewhat ⁓ healthy physically because you find your inner suit sometimes it's hot, you're sweating, and y you are working sometimes with aggressive bees. So that's

Kabelo (25:03)
Hmm.

Hmm.

Mmm, how's that?

Emmanuel Moledi (25:15)
No, no, no. I I I feel like once you are secure with your suit then you can you can be relaxed. But if you're not secure with your suit, then it's a problem. I think recently I I got stung ⁓ on my eye, next to my eye actually, ⁓ because I didn't follow pro like my proper procedures of checking that

Kabelo (25:23)
Okay.

Yeah.

Yay!

Emmanuel Moledi (25:39)
⁓ you know, so that one bee managed to get into the suit. Hmm. That's not a nice experience, but it it's part of the job.

Kabelo (25:41)
Hmm. ⁓ no. I can imagine.

Emmanuel Moledi (25:48)
Yeah, physically you need to be in good shape and then ⁓ the more external factors could be getting more hives because say now I'm having a season where there's a lot of bee activity and then you cannot ⁓ help or assist people in that time because you don't yeah, 'cause you d I don't have so I would say also funding

Kabelo (26:04)
you

Emmanuel Moledi (26:09)
⁓ can also be another challenge to to this and also I can also say what pesticides say other people are using pesticides around then they will bring whatever they caught there and bring it to the hive which can also ⁓ affect the hive in the long run. So yeah, those are for me the biggest challenges that I would face here.

Kabelo (26:33)
that's very interesting. And I wanted to touch a little bit on the funding and just the opportunities that exist for youth who would want to get into this space.

Kabelo (26:43)
Thank you for listening to Candid Sustainability Podcast.

Join us for part two of the Sustainable Beekeeping episode where we continue the conversation with Emmanuel and talk about the different avenues to funding opportunities and how he was able to secure a hundred thousand Rand in funding from Absa bank

We also talk about different opportunities that exist for youth to penetrate the farming industry. we carry on the conversation in part two of this episode.

So don't forget to follow Candid Sustainability Podcast. Like and leave a review wherever you listen to your podcast and share this episode with somebody who needs to hear it. Thanks for listening. I'll see you in part two.