By Lenjo Mbala and Sharon Korir
Introduction
Apiculture is the economic activity of beekeeping, and it entails caring and management of honeybees for subsistence and commercial purposes. Beekeeping produces a wide range of products with multiple uses, including but not limited to honey, beeswax, bee pollen, propolis, royal jelly, bee venom, honeycomb, bee bread, and bee brood. The Government in the Medium-Term Plan (MTP) IV and Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) have identified apiculture as one of the value chains to be enhanced in production, value addition and market access to attract local and foreign investments. Additionally, other policy frameworks such as the National Livestock Policy 2019 and the Sessional Paper No. 3 of 2020 on the Livestock Policy have laid out the potential for bee keeping, showing the significance of apiculture in generating income and food security. Potential jobs in the apiculture value chain include producers, processors, home brewers, herbalists, suppliers, distributors, pollinators, intermediaries, consumers, support services, research and development, regulatory and quality services and market expansion services. However, the apiculture value chain is constrained by high cost of production, bee colony losses and climate change. This blog explores avenues for promoting apiculture as a pathway to boosting job creation in Kenya.
Status of Apiculture Industry in Kenya
Progress in Apiculture
Driving job creation through production and consumption The potential for job creation in apiculture is immense, since approximately 80 per cent of Kenya is viable for apiculture, besides the current utilization of only 20 per cent of the honey production potential, of which 80 per cent is being produced in arid and semi-arid lands. It is estimated that Kenya’s production potential is over 100,000 metric tonnes of honey and 10,000 metric tonnes of beeswax. In 2023, Kenya produced 17,151.1 MT of honey, which is an improvement from 13,876 MT in 2019. Production of bees’ wax has increased from 1,374.4MT to 3,212.2 MT in 2023 as illustrated in Figure 1. However, Kenya’s demand for honey supersedes its supply, making Kenya a net importer of honey (Figure 2). The quantity of honey imported increased from 277,211kg in 2019 to 30,8847kg in 2023, while exports reduced from 117,002kg in 2019 to 73,805.20kg in 2023, indicating the need to strengthen the apiculture value chain.
Tracing jobs creation in apiculture
Apiculture not only provides direct employment but also stimulates economic activity across various sectors, making it an essential component of job creation. Apiculture directly supports about 54,7440 people, and 90,000 households engage in beekeeping, representing 1.23 percent of households in rural Kenya. There are 104 apiculture equipment manufacturing units in Kenya, which has provided employment for 900 persons.
Challenges in Apiculture
Bee colony losses
Bee colony losses occur due to pests and diseases, and pesticides and herbicides. Bee colony losses in apiculture lead to low production of bee products. It also affects agriculture,
biodiversity, and food security due to the vital role bees play in pollination.
Honey adulteration
Adulteration involves adding substances to honey to increase its volume or lower its cost, often making the product cheaper for distributors but reducing its quality and authenticity. Accessing pure natural unadulterated sustainable organic and affordable honey becomes challenging.Adulteration undermines consumer trust, affects the health benefits of honey, and can harmthe livelihoods of legitimate beekeepers.
Climate change
Extreme weather events such as floods, drought, changes in temperature and rainfall patterns directly and indirectly affect bee populations, behaviour resulting in bee mortality and low productivity.
High cost of equipment
Modern technological equipment such as Langstroth hives, honey extractors and smart hive monitoring systems remain inaccessible due to high costs. This has led to apiculturists relying on traditional methods, which leads to low production levels and low quality of honey, and therefore the inability to compete effectively in local and external markets.
Opportunities in Apiculture
High demand for natural honey
Kenya has an opportunity to benefit from the gap created by the increasing worldwide demand for eco-friendly natural honey, which exceeds the supply from the marketed output currently available.
Value addition
Value addition in apiculture presents numerous opportunities, which enhance profitability and product diversification while creating job opportunities in processing, packaging, and marketing activities. This reduces dependence on raw honey sales, making enterprises more resilient to market fluctuations. As such, apiculturists can target higher-value markets and cater to diverse consumer demands.
Employment for women and youth
Apiculture offers numerous opportunities for women and youth across its value chain. Beekeeping has relatively low startup costs, flexible working hours, and the potential for both income generation and community empowerment. Women and youth in rural Kenya can start small-scale beekeeping operations, with relatively low initial investment. Beekeeping requires minimal land and infrastructure, making it ideal for those with limited resources.
Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
Sustainable apiculture can lead to food security, employment and environmental conservation.
To enhance the development of apiculture in Kenya, the following interventions are critical:
(i) Collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, the county governments, agriculture and livestock-based research organizations, financial institutions, beekeeping cooperatives and associations, and non-governmental organizations could make apiculture thrive, and therefore creating more job opportunities and especially for rural populations and vulnerable groups.
(ii) There is room for training and capacity building for farmers in best practices, enabling access to affordable apiculture inputs to improve productivity. Strengthening processing capacity to ensure quality standards compete internationally. Supporting programmes that address challenges in apiculture, such as climate change and pests and diseases.
(iii) Supporting research, innovation and dissemination of knowledge around boosting apiculture. Creating an enabling environment for farmers, especially smallholder farmers in rural areas, to access financial products to promote sustainable beekeeping practices with optimum yields. Finally, there is a need to educate consumers to only
accept labeled organic bee products.
