05/03/2018
Bee Keeping
Bee-keeping in Kenya has been practiced traditionally for many years.
However only 20% of the country’s honey production potential (estimated at 100,000 metric tonnes) has been tapped.
80% of Kenya consists of arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) which have high potential in production of honey and apicultural activity is a major occupation in these areas due to the abundance of bee flora.
Non ASAL regions also practice beekeeping
Modern bee-keeping in Kenya started towards the end of 1960s and has since become an important enterprise in the livestock sub-sector.
80% of the honey comes from the traditional log hive.
However, a reasonable amount of hive products is obtained from Kenya Top Bar and Langstroth hives
NEED FOR BEE-KEEPING
Bee farming is a rewarding and enjoyable occupation with many benefits. It has a number of advantages over other farm enterprises;
Requires little land (50 colonies require a ¼ acre ) which does not have to be fertile
Honey is a source of non-perishable food
Capital investment is low compared to other farm enterprises
Bee-keeping or bee farming is cheap and relatively not competitive to other Agricultural enterprises i.e. does not compete for resources
Labour required is low.
Many products can be obtained which are great source of income i.e. honey, beeswax, pollen, propolis, bee venom, royal jelly, bee colonies, bee brood, queen bees, and package bees.
Encourages environmental conservation.
Bees are good pollinators of plants, trees, fruits and crops, thus playing a big role in bio-diversity and improvement of crop yields
The therapeutic value of most hive products provide remedy for a number of ailments (Apitherapy)
MAIN CHALLENGES IN PRODUCTION OF HONEY
The farmers lack adequate skills on managing bees and handling hive products.
Inadequate training for both farmers and extension staff.
Limited access to appropriate bee-keeping equipment.
An underdeveloped marketing system of hive products both locally and internationally due to problems of quality and marketing organisations.
Lack of adequate and intense research on of the existing bee-keeping technologies, equipment, honey bee and product utilisation.
Low prioritization of bee-keeping in relation to other enterprises in the wider Agricultural sector.
POLICY ON APICULTURE
The current policy on Apiculture is broadly to develop a modern bee-keeping industry in the country to provide additional income to rural households.
The Policy paper on apiculture is still on the draft proposal stage
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