College Set On Removing Farmers' Sting of Poverty

from All Africa

The Nation (Nairobi)

By Francis Mureithi
Nairobi

A local agricultural college has started pilot projects to boost honey production in parts of Rift Valley to fight poverty.

The projects in rural areas are as set out in Vision 2030, which lays the foundation for an economic revolution.

If the project succeeds, the industry will be a thriving enterprise as the area has great potential for honey production.

Most of the residents of the vast province, who live in areas with potential of honey production, are poor and look forward to the Catholic-sponsored college project changing their lives.

Honey production in Rift Valley, for instance, has not been fully exploited due to lack of refineries and modern beehives.

It is due to the huge untapped potential that Molo-based Baraka Agricultural College invests heavily in beekeeping.

The college projects are in Bomet, Baringo, Koibatek, Trans Mara, Bureti and Kericho districts.

They are supported by the Irish Self Help Development International.

Kenya, according to the project leaders, is capable of producing enough honey for export and local consumption, if only farmers are given incentives and better skills.

Beekeeping is widely practised in arid and semi-arid parts of Rift Valley, Eastern and some parts of Coast province.

Farmers in these areas, for many years, have relied on livestock as their main source of income. They are likely to boost their income through beekeeping.

The college started in 1974 as a farmers' training centre. It has continued training farmers and students on the best way to improve honey production.

The college is offering one week short courses in beekeeping both in Kiswahili and English to farmers.

One such farmer, who has benefited from the course, which is fully sponsored by the Danish government, is Mr Thomas Ngene from Kitui.

"Since I started involving myself in beekeeping, I have reaped maximum profits and that is why I travelled all the way from Kitui to Molo to attend the course," said Mr Ngene.

The beekeeping course is so popular that it has attracted students from Sudan, Eritrea, Rwanda, Congo, Tanzania and Uganda.

According to the assistant manager in charge of beekeeping development unit, Mr Jairus Lihanda , the college is working closely with 1,500 farmers in the region.

However, Mr Lihanda says that due to the increasing demand for honey in the local and international markets, the college is sometimes forced to buy raw honey from Sudan.

"Since we started a small refinery, the demand for honey products has continued to increase," Mr Lihanda says.

The official said many potential buyers outside the country have placed orders for the honey and related products.

Mr Lihanda said that Baraka honey was made to the highest standards of hygiene with no added chemicals. That, he explained, accounted for the product's popularity.

A refinery at the college can process 2,000kg of honey daily, which generates between Sh200,000 and Sh300,000 annually.

He said that the main aim of the college was to help farmers in beekeeping areas of Rift Valley build a refinery to process their raw honey.

Have medicinal value

Other end products of honey include candles, oils, which have medicinal value, and honey comb, which is heavily consumed by the leather industry.

Recently, the college received an order to supply 40 tonnes of honey monthly to a buyer in Britain. However, the college could not meet the demand due to low supply of raw honey.

The college at the moment is only able to process 16 tonnes of honey a year, which is not even enough to satisfy the local demand.

According to research conducted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido) and Baraka College, by the end of 2001, Kenya was only able to produce 25,000 tonnes of honey and 2,500 tonnes of wax.

The report says that Kenya has a potential of producing 100,000 metric tones of honey and 10,000 metric tones of bees wax annually.

One of the main challenges of beekeeping is low hive occupation, which at times is as low as 30 per cent.

Another impediment is the lack of policy on beekeeping, which the Kenya Honey Council and National Beekeepers Association must address.

The European Union, through the Community Development Trust Fund, has expressed support for the Government effort to make beekeeping official so as to boost rural livelihoods.

According to Community Development Trust Fund technical officer, Mr Solomon Mwangi , a beekeeping policy is currently in the pipeline and is expected to revamp the industry, which can potentially contribute Sh12 billion to the economy.

Throw away price

Lack of co-operative societies amongst beekeepers has also contributed to slow growth of honey production.

Many farmers sell their raw honey individually to Baraka College at Sh100 per kilogramme, while others are exploited by middlemen who buy at a throwaway price.

Poor management of beekeeping is another issue, which has affected the production of honey as most of the farmers are conservative and are using outdated methods.

Lack of knowledge on the Africa bee has also seen farmers drop their honey production.

Baraka College will from next year launch the bee breeding and multiplication course to address the matter.

Other impediments in the honey production include lack of modern equipment, pests which invade the hives, and lack of marketing skills.