MAMA Kenya plans to implement a beekeeping project based in Orus area, Tiaty East of Baringo County to empower women through job creation to increase household income in the community. The MAMA Honey project whose piloting is underway will provide multiple benefits beyond economic empowerment of women to be involved in managing the upcoming apiary.

Implementing the beekeeping project in partnership with the Baringo-based pastoralist Pokot community will equip women — who are left behind when men leave with the livestock in search for better pastures — with bee farming and entrepreneurial knowledge and skills to generate additional income for their families.  

Community and stakeholder engagement meetings led by MAMA team in Orus revealed that a beekeeping project would be a welcome women empowerment idea in the arid and semi-arid area that has remained severely underdeveloped for decades.  

The world is set to mark the World Bee Day on May 20,2022 to spread the awareness of the significance of bees and other pollinators for our survival. Although many people only think of honey when bees are mentioned, honeybees enormously contribute to our ecosystem through pollination, biodiversity protection, environmental conservation and averting climate change.

As pastoralism in Baringo and other areas become more challenging due to frequent droughts that have killed many animals, nomadic pastoralist communities are becoming open to diversifying their sources of income. Traditional beekeeping in Tiaty East has been practiced for ages. Nevertheless, generating substantial income from bee agriculture requires guided transitioning to modernized apiculture and effective land use to catalyze growth of the local economy.

According to a report by the Population Reference Bureau, only 15% of the Baringo population works for a pay. As we observe the World Bee Day, MAMA Honey offers a path to protect bees from human threats, and enhance the Baringo and world ecosystems while contributing economically to the community through hive products.   

Kenya produces an estimated 11,000 metric tonnes of honey and 1-3 tonnes of beeswax every year but this is only about 20% of the country’s potential. Baringo and other arid and semi-arid counties have highly favorable conditions for production of hive products.

With 80% of landmass in the country being classified as arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), Kenya has an enormous potential for beekeeping. ASALs are rich in flora, such as acacia trees and other factors, that make the lands prime to support bee agriculture all year round.

The low production of hive products in Kenya is attributed to poor beekeeping practices, lack of or failure to use appropriate technologies, poor apiculture policy guidelines and marketing strategy.

As a new entrant in beekeeping in Baringo County, MAMA intends to take elaborate evidence-based steps to improve success of the project. The project management team will carry out training of all the stakeholders involved in the project at every stage to ensure knowledgeable implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

MAMA also intends to carry out a pilot project to generate relevant data and information before implementing the actual beekeeping project. The community organization has acquired Langstroth and Kenya Top Bar hives to be used in the piloting stage. To support the project, the Orus community has allocated land for apiary.  

Through the MAMA Honey project, the organization aims to build capacity of the womenfolk to make better investment and family decisions. On training, women will largely manage the beekeeping project, not only earning direct income from it but also acquiring skillsets to invest in their own hives and other business opportunities within the community.

The income generated from MAMA Honey will support other MAMA projects, including operations at the Wellness and Resource Centre and the maternity wing therein, thus ensuring sustainability of the projects and that of the partner Orus community.

Article by David Njiru, a strategic communications specialist and a Communications Officer at MAMA

Follow David on Twitter