November 3, 2024

Beekeeping in Kenya

Since present communities migrated to Kenya, apiculture has been practiced there. Hunter-gatherer indigenous groups like the Okiek may have worked with bees as early as 2000 BC. 

Beekeeping has mostly been traditional, with honey being the principal product collected from log hives and the wild. On the other hand, there was a minor upsurge in contemporary beekeeping throughout the 1960s, particularly in hives. 

Kenya also developed the Kenya Top Bar hive, which marked the beginning of a modernized beekeeping movement.

Kenya produces over 100,000 metric tons of honey annually, despite this primarily traditional view of beekeeping. However, at just roughly 20% of its capacity, this is a negligible sum. 

Given that 80% of Kenya’s geographical area is classified as arid or semi-arid, the country has enormous potential for beekeeping. 

These areas are rich in flora, including acacia trees, and include other elements necessary to sustain a bee business year-round.

Given such a stellar CV, it begs the question of why the potential of the contemporary beekeeping sector has not been fully realized. 

Since government organizations like the Beekeeping Training Institute are inert, there isn’t much talk on beekeeping in Kenya. Another obstacle to the growth of beekeeping is the absence of contemporary structures that unite beekeepers via association. 

Additionally, there is a growing decline in the biodiversity of bees. More land is being removed for the cultivation of crops and other unsustainable uses like burning charcoal. 

These continue to be the main threats that colonies in Kenya face, along with the usage of pesticides.

I formed the Happy Community Organization to tackle these issues and use beekeeping as a platform to address more issues. 

The preservation of biodiversity is essential to the success of bee colonies. It is important to educate communities about the fact that not all land is appropriate for growing crops. 

They have to use the land appropriately. In light of this, the majority of Kenya’s terrain is ideal for beekeeping. To sustain beekeeping, more lost lands must be reclaimed by expanding the flora. 

Beekeeping can encourage the preservation of natural areas like forests. 

Integrative agriculture makes it possible for communities to engage in contemporary beekeeping near woods. Communities will eventually earn a respectable living while realizing the importance of woods. 

However, by pollinating, the bees would be assisting in maintaining the equilibrium of the ecosystem.

High rates of poverty, some exceeding the 36% national average, are seen in Kenya’s arid regions. By growing commercial beekeeping, these areas can stagger through the protracted trains of poverty. 

In these areas, we support beekeeping as a resilient economic venture to the environment. There is a lot of promise in places like Baringo, Makueni, Kitui, and Kajiado, among others. 

To teach beekeeping to communities, more training is needed. Partnerships are also necessary to support the growth of this industry in local areas. 

To facilitate the commercialization of beekeeping in Kenya, this is particularly relevant to aiding communities in acquiring contemporary tools and equipment, such as hives and community processing plants. 

This is the additional rationale behind Happy Community Organization’s founding. 

to assist communities in finding partners who will enable them to grow their apiculture and increase the beekeepers’ capacity in Kenya.

All of the major actors in the business will need to work together to create a modern commercial beekeeping industry in Kenya that is centered on biodiversity conservation, bee research, and the eradication of poverty. 

Organizations like Baraka College and the Bee Keeping Institute need to focus more on the neighborhood. Participation of communities and maintenance of biodiversity are key components of any successful beekeeping enterprise. 

Communities now seem to have fallen behind, which makes progress difficult.

International organizations like Apimondia could also contribute by partnering and sending materials to support Kenya’s efforts to meet the highest beekeeping standards globally. 

As part of its contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals, James Njuguna Wangunyu founded the Happy

Community Organization, a non-profit dedicated to growing a contemporary bee industry in Kenya to aid in the eradication of poverty and the conservation of biodiversity.

Beekeeping in Kenya