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NEWS & CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Nairobian

Sweet buzz: Group reaps big from beekeeping

Livestock

By WILLIES MWANIKI | Sep 30, 2019

**Mercy, Muthoni, the coordinator of Kahuho Environment Conservation and Beekeeping Self-help Group at beehive area in her farm Bahati, Nakuru.**

Kahuho Environment Conservation and Beekeeping Self-help Group ventured in a beekeeping project three years ago. The group is made up of thirty members from Kahuho village in Bahati constituency, Nakuru County. The process of beekeeping is carried out in a small portion of Mercy Muthoni’s garden, the coordinator of the group.

Muthoni says the idea developed gradually, where members started the project with few beehives, and have been adding them over time.

“The group has been increasing beehives gradually, and currently, we have twenty-five modern beehives which are already occupied by bees,” Muthoni said that their idea received a major boost after funding from the Nakuru Woman Representative Liza Chelule that enabled the group to add more modern beehives.

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Beekeeping is very manageable as it requires fewer inputs and a small piece of land to achieve yields. Muthoni explained to us that the essential thing to ensure that bees produce better returns is by keeping them in an environment plenty of flowering plants and providing them with water banks.

“In my farm, I have planted about one thousand trees and other flowering plants to ensure that the bees are fed well. We also put some water pools near the beehive area to ensure bees are well fed and prevent them from migrating.” The group has kept the bees at a strategic point to prevent bees from attacking the people on the roadside.

Honey harvesting is done thrice per year, after every four months, where each beehive usually produces approximately twelve kilograms per harvest. The honey is purified and sold for Sh1,000 per kilogram. “We sell our honey at Sh1,000 per kilo.

The demand for honey is high. We cannot even meet the demand.” The by-products are useful too as they are used for making candles, skin lotions, and bathing soaps, adding an extra profit to the group. The money has helped them in household upkeep and also advancing the project. “The project has been profitable to the group since it earns us money to sustain ourselves. We are also saving to expand manufacturing of soap, candles, and lotions from the byproducts of honey.”

However, the process has not been easy as it experiences challenges. One of the main problems is pests, specifically ants and wax moths that attack the beehives. Ants search for the sugary syrup and young larvae in bee wax from time to time. Wax moths sneak their ways into hives to lay eggs and when the eggs hatch the wax worms destroys honeycombs and may even damage the larvae. “Wax moth and ants are a great threat to our project as they may attack the beehives from time to time, posing a great danger to bees’ migration and decrease in honey production.”

Another challenge encountered is lack of enough finances to advance the project and ensure that all the by-products are fully processed and sold in the market.

“We experience some financial challenges to process the by-products and sell them to market. We need our goods to be legally approved by the relevant authorities, including the Kenya Bureau of Standards so that we can sell them legally in the market. The process for the same requires a lot of capital, thus posing a challenge to us as the upcoming self-help group.” Mercy, while speaking on behalf of the group, sends a message to all groups and individuals, encouraging them to venture in beekeeping farming.

“Beekeeping is straightforward to manage, and therefore I encourage individuals and groups to take a step and venture in beekeeping. The demand for honey is very high, and therefore as farmers, you are assured of the ready market.”

She also requests the county government to fund such projects since they significantly impact in improving livelihoods of the people. “We thank the Nakuru Woman Representative Hon Liza Chelule for her support, and we ask her to keep supporting us. And finally, we would also want the County Government of Nakuru to fund us and help us to ensure the by-products are fully processed and legally enters the market.”

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