(AGENPARL) – Tue 20 January 2026 From desks to hives
Turkish scholar and mother discovers new life among bees
In the quiet green outskirts of Düzce, Türkiye, where the air smells of chestnut trees and echoes the hum of bees, Nurcan Tekneci adjusts her beekeeper’s veil and lifts the lid of the first hive. The bees rise in a soft wave- busy, organised, tireless- and she smiles.
It is hard to imagine that just a few years ago, this beekeeper- now a trainer, entrepreneur and community inspiration- was living a very different life.
Nurcan, 36, grew up in Izmir, studied Latin Languages and Literature in Istanbul, earned a master’s degree and built a successful corporate career. She managed departments, earned a good salary and followed the familiar rhythm of a city life: long hours, crowded commutes and constant rush. “Almost ten years passed that way,” she recalls. “I didn’t even realise how little time I spent with my son.”
It took a global pandemic and 45 uninterrupted days at home for something inside her to shift. Her son was two years old at the time. “During those days, I bonded with him in a way I never had the chance to before,” she says. “I realised we could live with less. That consumption, chaos and stress weren’t the only way.”
One morning over breakfast, her husband, Lokman, repeated something he had often said but she had never seriously considered: “Let’s move to the village.” This time, she said yes.
A new beginning
Leaving the city was a big decision, and not everyone approved in the beginning. “My father was the first to oppose it,” she says with a laugh. “In his eyes, I had two university degrees, a great job and a high salary. Beekeeping? He thought I had gone mad.”
Friends teased her too: “Are you going to go to watch flies?” Nurcan always responded the same way: “Not flies. Bees.”
But the transition to rural life wasn’t only about a change of scenery. It was a change of purpose. For Nurcan, the choice to work with bees evolved into something deeply personal. When her father later passed away from lung cancer, her decision gained new urgency. She wanted to build a life centred on clean air, natural production, food safety and healthy living—values she could pass on to her son.
“I had one goal,” she says. “I shut my ears to everything else.”
Beekeeping is not a small undertaking, but Nurcan threw herself into learning. She studied scientific methods, apprenticed with experienced beekeepers and took vocational courses. She and her husband worked side by side. Their young son, now eight, was initially uninterested, but he slowly began to participate in the family business as well. They even gave him his own hive.
“We wanted him to grow up connected to nature,” Nurcan says. “That makes me very happy because one day he will want to go to university and having an extra ‘golden bracelet’, as we say in Turkish, meaning a valuable skill, is a wonderful thing.”
When the workday winds down, the family stays at the apiary. They bring tea, snacks, camping chairs. “We often stay here until late evening,” she says. “It’s peaceful. It’s where we feel happiest.”
As the family’s experience grew, so did their ambitions. Nurcan established her own brand and expanded beyond honey. Beeswax candles became a turning point. “I learned that beeswax releases negative ions that help clean the air,” she says. “Because of my father’s illness, this became very meaningful to me.”
Season by season, she diversified: beeswax, then royal jelly, then propolis. Each new venture was grounded in scientific research and produced under expert supervision.
A pathway to growth
In 2025, Nurcan joined a series of beekeeping trainings supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and aimed at strengthening local production, sustainability and rural livelihoods. Even after years in the field, she says the courses transformed her approach.
“These trainings helped me see where I was making mistakes,” she explains. “With more detailed, more meticulous work, I can increase my capacity and produce higher-quality, more sustainable products. FAO gave me a roadmap.”
The sessions covered hive management, seasonal care, disease control, product diversification and sustainable practices—tools that Nurcan immediately put into practice. Most importantly, they connected her with a network of other beekeepers.
On a warm summer afternoon, another visitor arrived at Nurcan’s apiary: Dilara Koçak, one of Türkiye’s most prominent nutrition experts. As an FAO supporter, Dilara has spent years raising awareness about agrifood systems, sustainability and healthy living.
But here in Düzce, she found something that surprised even her.
“We are in the farm of miraculous creatures that provide nutrition,” Dilara said, surrounded by thousands of softly buzzing bees. “Bees are essential for the sustainability of agrifood systems, for pollination, for biodiversity.”
During her visit, the two women rolled up their sleeves and made beeswax candles together, allowing Dilara to experience the craft Nurcan has mastered. The candles—symbols of light and nature—were a fitting metaphor for their shared mission of sustainability and women empowerment.
“There is a woman leader here,” she said, “She inspires women, inspires young people and does everything she can for the continuation of bees’ lives. Witnessing this is very special.”
A farm, a festival, a community
Today, Nurcan manages around 70 hives and harvested 200 kilograms of honey this year alone. But she has bigger dreams.
“I want to establish a bee farm,” she says. “A place where children, women, young people—even white-collar workers tired of city life—can come, learn about bees and produce their own honey.”
She envisions workshops, trainings and a honey harvest festival where families take home honey they saw produced.
“My goal is to improve food literacy,” she says. “I want people to know exactly what they are eating.”
Nurcan says she didn’t leave her professional life behind—she transformed it. The skills she honed in corporate offices now shape her business: organisation, quality control, communication.
And through FAO-supported training, she continues to strengthen her beekeeping knowledge and expand her vision. Among the hives of Düzce, surrounded by family and the steady hum of wings, Nurcan has found purpose and a home.
This story is part of a series celebrating women farmers worldwide, from producers, fishers, and pastoralists to traders, agricultural scientists, and rural entrepreneurs. The International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026 recognises their essential contributions to food security, economic prosperity, and improved nutrition and livelihoods, despite heavier workloads, precarious working conditions, and unequal access to resources. It calls for collective action and investment to empower women, in all their diversity, and to build a fairer, more inclusive, and sustainable agrifood system for all.
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