Husband and father Malkhazi Tabatadze, 37, used to provide an income for his family by working in the logging industry in the economically depressed rural south of Georgia. The work was unreliable and the pay was very low.

But recently the family has turned to the business of beekeeping – to great reward. Honey is much loved by Georgians and they pay well for it. With a $300 (£148.50) MED loan from World Vision, Malkhazi was able to get the essentials for staring the business. 

The family is already seeing modest returns from the first year’s small harvest of 40 kilos. It is worth between 280 GEL and 320 GEL (£84 and £96), depending on whether it is sold in the village at 7 GEL (£2) per kilo or in the town for 8 GEL (£2.40).

Malkhazi’s sister is a nurse working at a hospital. She told doctors about the honey and several of them have driven the 20 kilometers to the family’s home in the village of Khevasheni. "They are buying it because it is pure and natural," says Malkhazi’s wife, Mtvarisa. Honey is also an important part of Georgia's traditional medicine.

"What we have at home is just two milking cows and our land, half a hectare for crops and half for grazing the cows. The dairy products and the potatoes, corn and beans are just enough for us. There's nothing left to sell. We have no cash income, and our expenses are more every year than our income," she explains.

Mtvarisa is the family bookkeeper. She projects that with good weather and a strong bee population they could harvest between 200 and 300 kilos of honey a year. This could bring in between 1400 GEL and 2400 GEL (£480 and £720), which would make a huge difference to Malkhazi and his family.