AN entrepreneurial student is part of a pioneering project aiming to save elephants in Africa; using the power of bees.

Emma Vicary, a former student and member of staff at Truro and Penwith College, is currently a Team Leader of the Bee Elephant Enterprise (BEE) Project aimed at combating the steadily declining elephant population in Africa.

The project is fundraising to go to Kenya in summer 2016 to build beehive fences around farmland in the village of Rakhasi, where elephants are seen on average three times a week. Beehive fences are an effective elephant deterrent as elephants are naturally afraid of bees. The project will also teach farmers business skills to enable them to sell honey and honey products as extra income, with the ultimate aim of helping the farmers become sustainable by forming a co-operative.

Emma, who is currently studying BSc Zoology at University of Exeter’s Penryn campus, is part of a team of 5 and is primarily involved with overseeing the running of the project and organising the trip to Kenya. She said: “With my career aims at the end of my degree, this project really spoke to me. I want to focus on conservation and helping people to live in their environment while avoiding conflict.”

Emma, from Redruth, studied the Access to Higher Education Science course at Truro College, which prepared her for progression on to her chosen degree where she was able to get involved with the project. “I chose Truro College because it had a good reputation. The course definitely helped prepare me for a biology-based course and the staff were all really helpful.”

Truro and Penwith College is the first organisation to sign up in support of the project. Emma and the team are initially seeking sponsorship to fund 48 beehives to protect a 4 acre farm in Rakhasi, with a single beehive costing just £40. Potential sponsors can contact Emma on emv207@exeter.ac.uk or visit their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/beeelephantenterprise

The BEE Project is a student run project which is part of the Enactus Society at the University of Exeter (Penryn Campus). The Enactus Society is a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action to transform lives and shape a better, more sustainable world.

The WWF reported this year that: “Elephants eat up to 450kg of food per day. A single elephant makes light work of a hectare of crops in a very short time. Small farmers - often desperately poor and already economically and nutritionally vulnerable, forced by circumstances to encroach into elephant habitat - can lose their entire livelihood overnight from an elephant raid. Elephants are often killed in retaliation. Wildlife authorities in Kenya shoot between 50 and 120 problem elephants each year.”