Kenya
Beekeeping in Kenya
Increasing family incomes through improved beekeeping in Kenya with skills training and business support
Education & Training
The Need
Taita Taveta County lies in southeastern Kenya, just west of the coast, and borders the Republic of Tanzania to the southwest. The local economy in Taita Taveta depends heavily on agriculture, which employs around 80 per cent of the population. Unfortunately, erratic and unpredictable rainfall, along with lack of resources and education, has made it difficult for hardworking families to get ahead. Despite their best efforts, around 57 per cent of all families in Taita Taveta are living in poverty.
Taita Taveta, Kenya, has a long history of beekeeping; however, traditional beekeeping practices yield low quality and quantity of honey. Many Compassion caregivers in the county keep conventional log hives. The log hives tend to attract fewer bees than modern, movable hives. From the log hives, beekeepers harvest crude honey, often containing crushed combs, wax, pollen and other particles. Beekeeping could become a thriving industry here, but caregivers lack the knowledge and modern equipment they need to run a sustainable bee farm. Climate-related challenges and difficulty obtaining business loans pose further barriers. Though the government does have a program to teach people better agricultural practices, they are understaffed. Caregivers also have difficulty securing reasonable loans for investing in training, modern equipment and flowering trees and plants.
Compassion Kenya identified 150 caregivers who could improve their family income with beekeeping training and support. By supplying caregivers with valuable education and resources, our partners wanted to provide them with the skills and infrastructure they needed to make a lasting change.
Our Response
Compassion Kenya identified 150 beekeeping caregivers who could improve their incomes with beekeeping training and support to increased honey yields and other beeswax by-products.
Caregivers were mobilized to form seven beekeeping marketing groups, which were registered by the department of social services. Caregivers were trained on various aspects of beekeeping such as apiary establishment and management, honey harvesting, honey processing, providing added value and quality assurance. The groups each selected two model beekeepers to attend advanced training at the Lanana beekeeping station in Nairobi, Kenya. They then served as group trainers and model beekeepers when they returned, putting their additional apiary management skills to good use. The Subcounty Livestock Production Officer paid regular visits to the caregivers and offered training and support on management of their beehives.
Following the training, each caregiver received one Kenyan Top Bar hive and one Langstroth hive since these were best suited for the centre locations. Caregivers placed the hives on their properties for ease of management. Ten demonstration apiaries were established at the model beekeepers’ homesteads for the caregivers to learn about best management practices and to serve as the training sites for the beekeepers. Of the 300 hives that were distributed, 125 hives were colonized during the project period and caregivers are already harvesting honey from them. The average yield per hive was 2 kilograms, giving a total of 350 kilograms of honey harvested all together. This number is expected to improve as the honey production was affected by the prolonged drought, which affected the colonization of the hives. The honey was marketed locally and will be marketed externally as yields improve.
The beekeeping groups have been practising community-based saving and lending activities. This savings group model provides them with funds to procure equipment and inputs and allows them to borrow funds from the group to meet their household needs and to cater for emergencies that may arise. The savings groups have already saved more than the equivalent of $2,300.
Since beekeeping is directly linked to flowering trees, shrubs and plants, the caregivers established tree nurseries in the area. They planted 10,000 seedlings of trees indigenous to the area around their homesteads. These trees will help conserve the environment and provide forage for the bees for years to come.
Activities
Monthly meetings: A senior partnership manager from Compassion Kenya National Office began the project launch meeting with a prayer. The project implementation committee met monthly to plan and review the progress of the project.
Making hives: Trained caregiver beekeeping artisans learned to make modern hives. The artisans ensure the modern hives are available to the caregivers at an affordable price. Caregivers gathered to each receive one Kenya Top Bar and one Langstroth hive. These hives attract more bees than traditional log hives and produce better quality and quantity of honey. Caregivers assembled the hives before siting them around their homes.
Training and honey production: Caregivers attended multiple hands-on, on-site training sessions to learn about best practices in beekeeping, including the set-up and maintenance of hives, as well as honey harvesting and processing. Caregivers are happy to be harvesting higher quality honey for the market.
Your Gift Provides...
With this gift, 150 caregivers in Taita Taveta, Kenya, have been able to establish successful apiaries, including:
• Training sessions on beekeeping management
• Apiary management demonstration equipment
• Equipment, supplies and training by a County Environment Officer/Forestry Officer to start community tree nurseries (two nurseries per savings group)
• Flowering trees/shrubs/plant seedlings
• 2 Kenya Top Bar/Langstroth hives per caregiver
• Training, monitoring and marketing assistance by Jungle Honey Ltd. and the Country Livestock Production Department
ReportA message from a caregiver
In the context of beekeeping, my family was selling impure honey at a throwaway price locally. The honey harvested from traditional log hives was not sieved to remove other traces (impurities like parts of bees) and that’s why they could not fetch good prices in the market. But now I am in a group where we have received harvesting gear from the Compassion centre and some essential equipment to extract honey in a hygienic condition.
Through the intervention, we as a family have been able to get training on the importance of using modern beehives to get pure honey, thus getting a wider market for honey at competitive prices. In addition to that, the caregivers have joined a savings group to enable the family to get affordable loans to purchase more modern beehives. The trainings have helped break socio-cultural barriers that prevent women from beekeeping as modern hives are easy for anyone to inspect, manage and harvest.
My family will plant more trees to ensure that the bees get nectar. In addition to that, we get more earnings from honey and other bee products, thus ensuring family financial freedom, which will ensure our family’s basic needs are met. This will turn the profits generated from beekeeping to purchasing materials for making modern hives locally, which will be cheaper as we have been taught about the specifications of hives, both Langstroth and Kenyan Top Bar beehives.
Beekeeping by using modern beehives is better than using traditional log hives as during harvesting of honeybees, the colony is not destroyed. Teamwork is key in beekeeping as farmers can unite and produce pure honey in bulk packages to sell. Bees play an important role in food production as they facilitate pollination across plants.
Words cannot be enough to explain how grateful we are for this support. Through this intervention, our mindset towards use of beekeeping has changed and due to it we are now planting trees to make a conducive environment for the bees and people. May God bless all the supporters; you have not only changed my family but also an entire community. Thank you.
ReportA message from a pastor
The beneficiaries’ families have embraced beekeeping using modern hives as a vehicle to enable them to eradicate poverty. Through the Compassion centre, farmers have been able to acquire skills in beekeeping and apiary management, thus improving honey production and beeswax production, leading to higher earnings.
In addition to poverty eradication, the community is using beekeeping to fight against elephant invasions into their farms from the game park, thus destroying farm yields and water storage facilities, especially during long drought seasons. Currently, these cases have reduced drastically.
The church is planning to set up a bee products collection and processing centre. This will enable the Compassion centre to create more job opportunities among the locals. In addition to that, the frontline church partner plans to set up a workshop aimed at making hives and other bee by-products. The church partner has already started purchasing some of the equipment for the workshop and the processing unit.
The intervention was well received by the beneficiaries and their families, having realized that the frontline church partner wishes them well in regard to sustainable financial independency through beekeeping. The beneficiaries hold the Compassion centre in high regard. Thus, ministering to them has been made easy as they give the Compassion centre a listening ear and freely air their views. In addition to that, they are now more willing to assist the frontline church partner if need be.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank those who provided the financial support for this intervention. May God Almighty bless you abundantly as you have been a catalyst for change for an entire community through beekeeping, which has not only enabled the community to eradicate poverty but also the community has been able to fight against elephants trespassing into their farms, thus preventing destruction of farm yields by elephants.
ReportThank you for your generosity
Thanks to your support, 150 caregivers are now thriving in their beekeeping businesses. Their knowledge and skills have been enhanced and they are now able to maintain modern hives in their apiaries and provide for their families. Thanks to the training they received, the caregivers are well versed in apiary management practices such as routine hive inspection, harvesting and the purification of honey. They are also following safety measures such as wearing bee suits, head gear, gloves and gum boots and using a smoker when attending to the hives.
Through collaborative networks with established beekeeping organizations, caregivers have the support they need to continue to establish and develop their businesses further. The savings groups have proven vital to the success of this project. Members contribute a portion of the income generated from the sale of their honey to the group and they can borrow funds against their shared contributions. With these funds caregivers can meet household needs such as paying for school fees and uniforms or covering medical and other costs that arise during emergencies. Caregivers can also access loans from the group to purchase additional hives and bee equipment, ensuring the sustainability of the project.
The planted drought-resisted flowering trees and plants indigenous to the area will not only increase food available to the bees but will also contribute of the conservation of the environment. The government of Kenya has established a target of 10 per cent tree coverage by the end of 2022; this project has contributed to Kenya meeting that goal.
This intervention is also benefiting the whole community. The bees are keeping elephants from the game park off their farms so they don’t destroy their crops; they have already seen a drastic decrease in the number of elephant invasions since establishing the apiaries. The frontline church partner is hoping to set up a bee product collection and processing centre, which will create even more job opportunities for people in the community. Having seen that the frontline church partner cares about families’ financial well-being, caregivers are more open to listening to church leaders as they share the gospel. Caregivers are also more willing to help at the Compassion centre when needed.
Armed with modern equipment and training, these 150 caregivers are now able to provide for their families and lift them out of poverty for good. Thank you for giving these families the opportunity they needed to get ahead and provide for their children. Your generosity is making a tangible difference not only in the lives of these families but also in the entire community. Thank you!