Acidri Benson

Acidri Benson Nyakutah lives in Awindiri Parish, Ayivu Division, Arua — the very same parish where Honey Pride Arua (U) Ltd is headquartered. He is a devoted father and husband, supporting a large family of sixteen people including his wife, ten biological children, and five extended family members, one of whom is an orphan.

What drew Acidri to beekeeping was its accessibility. "Bee keeping is fairly an easy project to maintain compared to others like crop growing. I started with local materials, the labour input was not intensive, so the initial cost was low. And the returns started coming immediately."

Today, bee farming has transformed his economic life. The annual income from honey supports school fees, medical bills, and his family's daily needs.

Acidri sees beekeeping as far more than a livelihood. "Being a bee farmer means you are producing an important product which helps people in many ways. You are also protecting a very important insect which helps other farmers nearby. Then you are also protecting trees. Now you can see that it means a lot."

His dream is to acquire more land to integrate beekeeping with crop growing and tree planting on a larger scale — and he plans to get there by scaling up honey production.