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Report 4 (of 5): Bee Fair
- Kenya
Introduction
In Kenya, approximately 80 per cent
of land is suitable for beekeeping. It provides many
poor farmers in Africa with additional income and,
as honeybees help pollination, it helps biodiversity
conservation. Beekeeping has many advantages as it
is cheap, easy to start up and manage, it is self-reliant
and the technology involved is both simple and locally
available.
Honey Care Africa manufactures and
supplies hives and related bee-keeping equipment to
organisations, communities and individuals across
Kenya. Working specifically with non-governmental
organisations or NGOs, they provide Langstroth beehives
to communities, farmers and organisations. They also
provide free training in beekeeping, assist communities
and individuals in developing organisational and management
skills, and teach basic record keeping and farm economics.
They guarantee a market for the honey produced, and
buy it at a guaranteed and mutually acceptable price.
Biodiversity and Poverty Reduction
The project aims to reduce poverty
through the use of sustainable biodiversity conservation.
Over 10,000 Honey Care hives have been produced for
many subsistence farmers across the country, either
on a loan or on a cost-sharing basis through a number
of local organisations. It is estimated that these
hives have the potential to bring in over US$600,000
to rural Kenyan farmers each year (estimate based
on maximum production for each one).
Honey Care is helping promote beekeeping
across Kenya in arid and semi-arid areas, traditionally
considered beekeeping regions, as well as higher potential
areas. Regions with a higher degree of biodiversity
due to temperature and rainfall, greatly benefit from
bee pollination.
There are several benefits of Honey
Care's beekeeping programme on biodiversity:
- 'Bees for Trees' is a scheme where
honey is bought at a premium from locations where
trees are being planted; farmers could be given
hives as a direct and immediate incentive.
- Honey is marketed according to
the main plant species from which it is produced.
The different natural flavours highlight natural
biodiversity.
- Only endemic (local) sub-species
of bees are used since the hives are colonised naturally.
- The bees perform an essential ecological
service of high benefit as they pollinate many plants
and flowers.
Those interested in beekeeping can
expect training in management, record keeping and
farm economics. Honey Care provides farmers with technical
advice whenever possible. By guaranteeing a market
for honey, potential new beekeepers know they will
receive a fair income for their produce and so are
encouraged to get involved.
Honey Care's beekeeping programme
has numerous benefits on livelihoods:
- The 'Money for Honey' approach,
buying every kilogram of honey produced at a fair
price, means that farmers receive payment at the
farm gate.
- The potential problems associated
with selling farm produce, such as delayed payments,
corruption, middlemen and poor markets, are eliminated.
- A farmer can expect to make about
US$200-250 per year from four hives, needing only
5-10 minutes a week to tend the hives. So far some
2000 households have benefited.
- Honey Care has developed a micro-leasing
or hire-purchase scheme, to allow people who cannot
afford to buy equipment outright to start beekeeping
themselves. This enables poorer people to earn money
without needing start-up capital.
Beekeeping provides people in poverty
with additional regular income, helps the environment
and has other advantages:
- It is inexpensive. Individuals
and private organisations such as churches, women's
groups, youth associations and co-operative societies
can start up with a small amount of money.
- It does not involve mass feeding
of bees because they provide their own food all
year round.
- Beehives can be made locally by
carpenters, though some equipment may need to be
imported.
- It requires no land, so those with
few assets can participate.
Community Participation
In many areas of Kenya, beekeeping
is practised equally by men and by women. Beekeeping
has given women an opportunity to engage in income
generating activities where they were previously marginalised.
Many youth and recent school-leavers have been learning
about it through the Boy Scout and Girl Guide organisations.
Although beekeeping is considered
to be an individual activity, in many communities
it has brought farmers together, sharing equipment
and learning from each other's experiences. In some
villages, beekeepers have come together to form their
own groups and associations. Lessons learned through
working together have been used in other areas of
their lives.
Beekeeping for Beginners
Bees + Nectar = Honey
Bees
The tropical African honeybee (Apis
mellifera adansonii) is well adapted to African
conditions. Although this local honeybee tends to
be aggressive, it has the considerable advantage of
producing several honey crops a year and gathers its
own food, so there is little or no need to feed it.
This contrasts with temperate-zone bees (European
bees) which work only for six and nine months a year.
European bee colonies have to be kept out of the cold
and fed with sugar or corn syrup, making management
expensive and time consuming.
There are three different kinds of bees
in every colony: a queen, the drones, and the workers.
The queen's job is to lay eggs, as many as several hundred
in a day. These eggs (or lava) develop into drones,
workers, or new queens, depending on how the workers
treat them. Drones are the only male bees in the hive
and their main function is to mate with a virgin queen
outside the hive. They have no sting, do not carry pollen
and are unable to produce wax and so when resources
are limited, they often get driven out and die.
The all-female worker bees make up
around 98 per cent of the colony; they bring water,
pollen, nectar and propolis (bee glue) back to the
hive. Others guard the hive, clean it, build the wax
comb, nurse the young and control the temperature
of the hive. Their legs are specially equipped with
pollen baskets, and they have glands that produce
wax on their abdomens. The worker bees do sting, but
usually die afterwards.
Nectar
Flowers contain nectar, a sweet substance
that attracts bees so that they will pollinate the
plant. Bees carry nectar back to the hive in special
pouch-like stomachs, which hold enzymes that begin
to convert nectar into honey. Once at the hive, bees
deposit this mixture into honeycomb cells. Once the
honey is mature, worker bees place a small amount
of beeswax over each cell to store it as food during
the winter.
Pollination
The most important service honeybees
provide to nature is the pollination of fruit crops.
By carrying pollen from one flower to another, bees
allow many plants to complete their reproductive cycle
and produce seeds. Some plants have evolved to be
attractive to bees so as not to become extinct. Specially
shaped flower parts make sure the visiting bees become
covered with pollen, which are then carried to the
next plant.
In Africa, many crops depend on the
wind for pollination, including cereals such as millet,
guinea corn, maize and rice. Many plants cannot be
pollinated without insects, including: pulse vegetables;
cash crops such as coffee, cola nut, cocoa, coconut,
palm, cashew; and fruits such as the mango and citrus.
The bee is ranked among the most effective pollinators
in the world!
Bee nests and beehives
A bee nest consists of a series of
parallel beeswax combs, each containing rows of wax
with hexagonal compartments of honey stores, pollen,
or developing bee larvae (brood). They are complex
structures in which bees take care of their young,
store honey and protect the queen. A beehive is any
container provided for honey bees to nest in. The
idea is to encourage bees to build their nest in a
way that is easy for the beekeeper to manage and extract
the honeycomb. Beehives can be divided in to three
main categories - traditional, movable-frame and modern
low-technology:
- Traditional hives are those
made locally with different materials, typically
hollowed-out logs or clay pots, but when extracting
the honey and beeswax, many bees may be killed.
- Movable-frame hives are
the most developed way of keeping bees. These are
used to maximise the honey crop each season with
the least disruption to the bee colony. High populations
of bees can be kept in this type of hive; honey
stores quickly build up during the flowering season.
- Low-technology hives attempt
to combine the manageability and efficient harvest
of the movable-frame hive, with the low-cost advantage
of the traditional hive. Bees are encouraged to
construct their combs from the undersides of a series
of top-bars. These top-bars allow individual combs
to be lifted from the hive by the beekeeper. Low-technology
hives can be constructed from locally available
materials.
The Langstroth beehive
The Langstroth hive is an example
of a movable-frame hive and is the most commonly used.
The frames are separated from the hive wall, and from
each other, by a bee-space. Most Langstroth hives
have boxes to house ten frames, but eight- and twelve-frame
hives are also used. As standard sizes and certain
design details vary slightly from country to country,
it is important to buy all hives and hive fittings
from the same supplier.
Figure 1. A two-storey Langstroth
ten-frame hive |
 |
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| This diagram illustrates the
Langstroth Hive showing (from top to bottom):
- top cover or roof
- inner cover
- super or honey chamber
- brood box or chamber
- bottom board
- alighting board and stand
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Harvesting Honey and Beeswax
Honey is harvested at the end of the
flowering season. The beekeeper selects the honeycombs
that contain ripe honey, covered with a layer of fine
white beeswax. The honeycomb can either be cut into
pieces and sold as fresh cut comb honey, or can be
broken up and strained through a filter to separate
the honey from the beeswax.
The comb from which bees build their
nest is made of beeswax and can also be sold. The
beeswax can be saved until enough has been collected
to melt over water into a block. Many beekeepers throw
away beeswax, unaware of its value. It can be used
as a waterproofing for strengthening leather and cotton,
in batik, in making candles and in various hair and
skin creams. Much of the wax on the world market is
exported from Africa.
Equipment
Most of the equipment needed for small-scale
beekeeping can be made locally by village artisans.
Smoker
A beekeeper needs a source of cool
smoke to calm the bees when extracting honey. This
is produced using a smoker. The smoker is made up
of a fuel box containing smouldering dried cow dung,
hessian or cardboard, with bellows attached. The beekeeper
uses the smoker near the entrance of the hive before
it is opened, and gently smokes the bees to move them
from one part of the hive to the other.
| SMOKER
Bees respond to smoke by filling
up on honey so that they are less likely to
sting.
- The metal box shown has
a directional funnel hinged at the top,
which allows the fuel to be inserted.
- The fuel is kept off the
base by a perforated metal shelf above an
airhole.
- The bellows, on the right,
are used to blow air into the fire box through
two holes opposite each other.
- It is important that only
smoke and no flames emerge from the smoker
and that the fire should be put out immediately
after use.
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Protective clothing
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Firgure 3. A bee veil is
the most important part of the protective clothing
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Protective clothing is needed for beekeeping
in order to avoid being stung by the bees, which can
often cause painful injuries. The most important body
part to protect is the face, particularly the eyes and
mouth; a broad-rimmed hat with some netting will do
this. Other clothing may also be worn, including gloves,
boots and overalls. White coloured clothing is advisable,
as bees are much more likely to sting dark-coloured
clothing. Whatever you wear, make sure there are no
loose items of clothing that bees can get caught up
in this can be very painful indeed!
Hive tools
The hive tool is a handy piece of metal
that is used to prise boxes apart, scrape off odd bits
of beeswax, separate frame-ends from their supports
etc. They can be made from pieces of flat steel; screwdrivers
are often used. Old knives can be used but tend to be
too flexible and do not give enough leverage.
Promoting Beekeeping
Beekeeping can help people in poor
and remote areas of the world improve their standard
of living while helping conserve the environment.
Honey Care Africa has shown that it provides an ideal
solution to many small-scale farmers. It is typically
within the means of even the smallest farm system.
Beekeeping requires little capital and is low maintenance,
so it does not compete with other aspects of the farm
system for precious resources.
References
'ATBrief No. 7: Beekeeping', Appropriate
Technology magazine, Vol.20, No. 4, 1994
Beekeeping in India, S. Singh,
Indian Council of Agricultural Research, 1982
Tools for Agriculture: A buyers
guide to appropriate equipment for smallholder farmers
(Fourth Edition), Introduction by Ian Carruthers and
Marc Rodriguez, IT Publications, 1992
For further information, please contact:
Farouk Jiwa, Operations Manager
Honey Care Africa Ltd.
P.O. Box 24487
Muringa Ave, Jamhuri Park
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: 254-2-574448
Fax: 254-2-574450
E-mail: fjiwa@insightkenya.com
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Kenya Beekeepers Association
Box 34188
Nairobi
Kenya
Tel: 254-2-56430
E-mail: info@apiconsult.com
Website: www.apiconsult.com/kba.htm
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International Bee Research
Association
18 North Road
Cardiff CF10 3DT
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 29 20 372409
Fax: +44 (0) 29 20 665522
Email: mail@ibra.org.uk
Website: www.cf.ac.uk/ibra
The IBRA is a non-profit organisation
with members in almost every country in the
world. It exists to increase people's awareness
of the vital role of bees in agriculture and
the natural environment. It produces three
journals, has a library service, runs conferences
and has a directory of people interested in
beekeeping. |
Bees for Development
Troy
Monmouth, NP25 4AB
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 16007 13648
Fax: +44 (0) 16007 16167
E-mail: busy@planbee.org.uk
Website: http://www.planbee.org.uk/
Beekeeping for Development
supports beekeeping in developing countries.
The site contains a book and video store,
online journal and up to date news on sustainable
beekeeping. |
Websites
http://www.apiconsult.com/
Consultancy based in Kenya, which gives advice to
Donors, UN agencies, NGOs, community based organisations
and individual businesses on all aspects of beekeeping
in the development context.
http://www.beekeeping.com/
International Federation of Beekeepers Associations
http://www.beehoo.com/
World Beekeeping Directory which includes regional
and country information on beekeeping and organisations
www.satweb.co.za/bees
S.M McGladdery, supplier of beekeeping equipment in
South Africa (including Langstroth Hives)
Further Reading
Books with underlined titles can be
downloaded for free from the web address provided.
Others can be ordered from the relevant postal address.
ITDG Publishing Books
Beekeeping as a Business
Richard Jones
£10.99, Commonwealth Secretariat, 2000, ISBN: 0850926319
Introduction to Beekeeping
Stephen Rere
£8.95, Vikas Publishing House, 1998, ISBN: 812590588X
Food and Agricultural Organisation
(FAO) Books
Beekeeping
in Africa by the Food and Agricultural Organisation
(www.fao.org/docrep/t0104e/T0104E00.htm)
Beekeeping
in Asia by the Food and Agricultural Organisation
(www.fao.org/docrep/x0083e/X0083E00.htm)
Earthprint Books
Pollination management of mountain
crops through beekeeping: trainers' resource book
US$15, ICIMOD, 1999, ISBN: 9291158690 This publication
is part of ICIMOD's initiative to promote wider use
of honeybees to contain declining crop productivity
due to pollination failure. This resource book is
for training extension workers and mountain farmers
to use bees for pollination. It covers several topics
related to managing bees for crop pollination.
The illustrated book provides a general
introduction to pollination; explains the reasons
why different kinds of bees are important crop pollinators;
and describes how they pollinate a crop. It describes
the limitations in using bees in traditional fixed-comb
hives for crop pollination and explains the advantages
of movable-frame hives. The role of the hive bees,
Apis cerana and Apis mellifera, as crop pollinators
rather than wild bees, and how to manage them for
pollination of crops in general are described in detail.
Descriptions of the management of hive bees for pollination
of particular crops have also been given.
Acknowledgements
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