So on the eve of International World Bee Day, I was busy trying to get some honey from my honeybees armed with a motorbike helmet for my protection. It was one of the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. But that’s a story for another day. Anyway let me take you back to the beginning, to how I decided to keep bees.
Back in 2023 I was hiking somewhere in Kajiado county when I stumbled upon this apiary with hundreds of beehives. The yellow painted hives arranged in lines under a canopy of yellow trunked acacias and surrounded by a barbed wire left me breathless. I was impressed beyond words. The whole thing looked so beautiful and serene and harmless you would hardly imagine it harbored bees! All around the apiary the Masaai livestock with their sounding bells grazed in harmony.
I felt nothing but respect for whoever set that apiary. That was genius. That must be too much honey produced each month, I thought. And with a litre of honey going for about Ksh. 500, that meant a lot of money for that farmer. Something clicked in me. I knew I was going to try it, even if it was only one hive.
And sure enough, when I returned home in Busia I had my own hive, a replica of Kenya Top bar hive, made by my very own hands in my tree grove. But the fact of the matter is I wasn’t just doing this to satisfy an ambition, but to change some mindset and baseless fear of bees in my community. In my community alone, the fear of bees has clouded minds to the economic opportunity they present. Some people are even scared of having a swarm of bees in their trees, not for the fear of being attacked by the insects, but for being branded witches.
As people out there in progressive communities enjoyed the opportunities brought by bees, mine was still seeing them as an enemy. Changing the mindset of my people on beekeeping was now a priority.
Truth be told, Busia is among the poorest counties in Kenya with many people still living below the poverty line. Most people here are farmers with small parcels of land due to fragmentations that come with inheritance. Hence introducing alternative Bee farming as an ses of honeyalternative source of income to this community seemed like a good idea.
Bees only require a small quiet space for their apiary which almost every household here can provide. Plus in Busia there’s enough vegetation cover all year round to produce enough flowers, and water is no issue. And those are some of the most important requirements for keeping bees. And in only three months your honey is ready for harvesting. Tell me why anyone wouldn’t want to keep bees?
I know bees can be lethal, especially our African Wild bee, but only when disturbed. I’ve seen people with hives set in their backyard gardens and there’s never been an attack case.
This post is to encourage more and more people to get involved in bee farming which is lucrative enough when done right. According to recent studies, the number of bees is declining, which should be alarming since we all know how crucial this insect is to the ecosystem. You should be worried, especially if you’re a crop farmer because bees are the biggest insect pollinators.
It won’t hurt you having one or two hives in your farm, if anything you stand to benefit a lot. You will have free honey every three months, on top of having pollinators around.
The following factors are considered before siting an apiary:
- Availability of flowers.
- Availability of water, consider placing a sugar solution close to the hives in containers where water isn’t available in a 3 km radius.
- A sheltered place. Bees should be protected from strong wind and sun.
- A place free from noise and other disturbances.
- A place away from homesteads, grazing fields and busy roads.
Importance of keeping bees
- Bees are good pollinators for crops.
- Bees produce honey.
- Honey and beeswax are sold to earn income.
- Bees require little capital and land to keep.
Uses of honey
- Honey is a sweetener for beverage and soft drinks.
- A high energy drink.
- Medicinal as s it is used to dress fresh wounds.
- And honey is a preservative.
I hope you’ve learned something from this post and I sincerely hope you would consider beekeeping as a source of income. And above everything, I hope you will be kinder to bees by not using some of this harmful chemicals that are the main reason for their declining numbers in recent years. Happy International World Bee Day to all beekeepers.