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Kenya: Dwindling Bee Colonies Sting Honey Market
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
8 April 2008
Posted to the web 8 April 2008
Abyssinia Lati
Kaburu Ikunyua has been practising apiculture since 1975, but unlike other beekeepers in developed countries, he is struggling to keep some 15 beehives.
With the global collapse of bee colonies, the production of honey is decreasing and the big honey producers-US, China and Argentina- have been affected too. The demand is high; the production is low. As a result, major importers of honey are now turning to Africa for the sweet product.
But there is one problem: Beekeeping is still treated locally as a cultural activity and farmers- despite the demand-have not satisfied the national demand. "We export honey yes, but local demand is still high," says Mr Julius Korir, the acting general manager, Trade Information and Business Counselling Services, a department of the Export Promotion Council.
Mr Ikunyua, the chairman of the Apiculture Association of Kenya, says one has to be a commercial beekeeper to make money and he wants to organise small scale farmers to tap the emerging potential.
In Kenya, honey is sold by the highways in honey producing areas, supermarkets, herbal clinics and to traditional brewers. This leaves very little for export, but demand is still rising.
For instance, Britain only produces one-tenth of the honey it consumes while 22 tonnes are imported from other honey producing countries. Although the ban on Chinese honey in the European market was lifted three years ago, consumers in EU countries still want organic honey, which Kenya has.
"The selling point for Kenyan honey is that it is organic," says Mr Korir. Ironically, we cannot produce enough. According to Export Promotion Council statistics, US imported Sh3 million worth of honey last year-four times more than it had imported in 2006.
At the villages, small-scale beekeepers are using the traditional log beehive that produces about 15 kilogrammes of honey a year compared to the Langstroth beehive, an American innovation that can produce 40 kilogrammes.
But honey production is seasonal and this makes it hard to predict the amount harvested.
Honey production picks up during the months of May to July when rainfall is experienced in most parts of the country, but prolonged drought has also affected production. During the drought of 2005-2006, Honey Care Africa fell short by 58 per cent of the honey it was expecting to produce.
Recent environmental destruction has also seen the disappearance of bee colonies. To make a log beehive, a tree has to be felled and the trunk hollowed out.
Honey Care, one of the leading producers, has been hard-hit. Their best selling brand, Acacia honey, is produced from acacia nectar from Burnt Forest. However, the acacia trees have been cut down, says the general manager of Honey Care Africa, Margaret Mimoh.
As a result, the colonies in these areas have reduced because there are no flowers to attract the bees while water catchment areas are gone.
The company is now trying to get those interested in beekeeping to take up environmental conservation as well. They are also working with NGOs on conservation projects .
According to a report done by the Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2001, the country's potential for apiculture development was estimated at over 100,000 tonnes of honey and 10,000 of bee wax. At the time, only about one fifth of this potential was being exploited.
But technology is still dodging local producers. "A farmer can harvest honey twice a year and if the technology is ideal, it can even be three times," says Mr Ikunyua. He says one of the ways to increase production is to bring the cost of the modern beehive down.
His association is working with the Kenya Agricultural Productivity Programme (KAPP) and Kenya National Federation of Agricultural Produce (KENFAP) to get grants from the World Bank to provide loans to farmers interested in apiculture.
Some of the farmers are still using log beehives because they find the Sh4,500 Langstroth beehive too expensive and the Kenyan Top-bar beehive needs too much attention. Mr Ikunyua believes the cost can be cut to Sh3,000
"Some companies have monopolised this and we need to start making our own," says Mr Ikunyua.
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He said companies give the farmers the beehives on loan which is deducted from the honey produced. The log beehive does not produce much and makes quality control difficult. With most of the beekeeping areas largely supported by NGOs, apiculture is mostly seen as a cultural activity rather than a commercial one.
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