AGROSAVIA, weaving the future between honey and forests: rural education plants hope in the new generations of Caquetá

• Transforming rural future with education and sustainability alongside the Rural Youth of the Yarí plains.

 

Florencia, Caquetá. May 9, 2025. In the heart of Caquetá, where the departments of Guaviare and Meta meet, lies a vital region for the Colombian Amazon: the Yarí plains or Llanos del Yarí. This ecological corridor, neighboring the Chiribiquete, Tinigua, and La Macarena National Parks, acts as a bridge between the Andes and the Amazon rainforest, creating a landscape where biodiversity takes the center stage, as stated by the Humboldt Institute in 2024.

In this corner of the world, where the greenery of the rainforest blends with the horizon, Corporación colombiana de investigación agropecuaria - AGROSAVIA and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development have planted a seed of hope. Their partner, Institución Educativa Rural San José de Caquetanía [Rural Educational Institution (REI) San José de Caquetanía] (El Edén del Tigre campus), in San Vicente del Caguán, Caquetá, together with the younger generations, are working to curb deforestation, a latent threat in this fragile ecoregion. In just a few months, a future is emerging where forests are preserved and the honey of the Amazon sweetens the path.

The school has transcended its walls. With the help of young people from the IER and the members of the Yarí Peasant Business Association (ASECADY, for its acronym in Spanish), the classrooms have become gardens of knowledge: the hives are their blackboards and the forests their libraries. The murmur of the bees and the wind through the trees are now the lessons that guide their days. In this exchange between ancestral wisdom and sustainable innovation, beekeeping and stingless beekeeping have woven a language of the future, one where Caquetá not only produces honey but also flourishes in awareness, cultivating a territory where every drop of sweetness is also a seed of hope.

In this way, the educational institution becomes an epicenter of innovation and a hub for regional development, where students and communities learn to confront deforestation by implementing sustainable strategies that potentiate and value the forests that remain in this region differently. This project is part of the National Rural Youth Strategy, which includes, among its actions, strengthening educational environments and creating opportunities for new generations by presenting real opportunities for income generation in the region, while protecting biodiversity.

Honey that sweetens and stops the axe

Each hive installed is an act of resistance: a "no" to deforestation and a "yes" to the ecosystem services that weave life. Here, young people harvest not only liquid gold, but also roots of dignity and a sense of belonging to a beautiful green territory.

 

Education that transforms

This is the furrow where true wealth germinates: seeds of knowledge that will grow like trees, a protective shade for future generations, because saving the planet is also done with notebooks, overalls, and bees buzzing as a soundtrack.

 

Where education flourishes and bees write the future

In the heart of Caquetá, where the Chiribiquete, Tinigua, and La Macarena National Parks extend their blanket of biodiversity, the San José de Caquetanía REI stands as a beacon of innovation and conservation. Here, every action is a step toward sustainability, a commitment to the land and its guardians: rural youth.

 

A living laboratory of sustainability

In this buffer zone, education is transformed into action: nurseries that renew the forest; production of native and forage species to reconcile production with conservation. Apiaries that generate life: Endemic Apis mellifera and melipona or stingless bees pollinate not only flowers, but also provide opportunities for the new generations.

 

Tools for change

AGROSAVIA promotes this dream by adapting key training environments, hives, protective equipment, smokers, and more. In addition, local know-how and technical knowledge will be injected, along with training with regional beekeepers to empower teachers and students, ensuring that the community has the workforce and collective commitment to build these spaces.

 

Results that are measured (and savored)

The project does not end with installing the apiaries; intelligent monitoring will be carried out, as well as monitoring bee health, honey production, and pest management. In addition, through periodic evaluations, continuous learning will be measured, and assessments will be conducted to ensure that every drop of honey is also a lesson learned.

 

Expected impacts

More than just beehives, we are cultivating:

• Environmental awareness in the new generations.
• Sustainable economic alternatives to curb deforestation.
• A replicable model of rural education linked to conservation.

The project not only promotes sustainable honey production but also weaves knowledge networks through strategic alliances with SENA (the National Learning Service). Young people are transforming beekeeping and stingless beekeeping into tangible opportunities, adding value to every drop of honey.

This is the future that AGROSAVIA envisions: a vibrant countryside, where new generations and rural communities write, with their actions, a story of sustainability. Each hive installed, each bee protected, is another verse in the poem of the Amazon that is reborn.