NAIROBI, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Mark Livaha is a middle-aged farmer from the western Kenyan county of Kakamega who has nostalgic memories of venturing into a dense forest near his ancestral village to look for wild honey, cherished for its nutritional and medicinal properties.
Livaha said that growing up near the dense Kakamega forest had nurtured his passion for bees, given the endless supply of honey the insects generated for his community.
Thanks to nudging by researchers from the Nairobi-based International Center of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), Livaha joined a group of small-holder farmers in rearing stingless bees.
Livaha said that domesticating the stingless species has been profitable besides aiding the conservation of the Kakamega forest.
"Soon after introducing stingless bees in my homestead, they multiplied fast and have been producing enough honey for consumption and sale in the nearby market," said Livaha.
He is an active member of Kakamega Stingless Bees Farmers Association that taps the insects from the forest, rear them at home to produce honey while pollinating crops.
Livaha said the 35-member farmers' organization has benefited from capacity building by scientists affiliated with ICIPE, to enable them earn sustainable income from stingless bees.
He said that stingless bees are found in dead wood, on the ground and on walls of houses and their diet includes icy sugar and sugar solution.
Livaha disclosed that his organization has also been training local hunter gatherers on how to spot stingless bees at the Kakamega forest and collect them for domestication.
He added that as a native of Kenya's only tropical rainforest that is an extension of the vast Congo basin rainforest, he had vast knowledge on conserving bees and other pollinators like butterflies and birds.
"Even locating the stingless bees deep inside the forest has not been difficult since I learnt the art from my grandfather during hunting expeditions," said Livaha.
He said that after domesticating the stingless bees that are small in size, it takes three months for them to start producing honey depending on availability of flowers.
Some of the challenges facing rearing of stingless bees include attack by predators like lizards, birds and chicken, drought and habitat destruction, said Livaha.
He revealed that currently, his organization manages 70 colonies of stingless bees and harvests honey in March, June and September, adding that quantities fluctuate depending on the weather condition.
The production hit 100 liters in 2021, says Livaha, adding that some of the major clients for the organic honey include a local public university, households and shops amid rising demand for the commodity due to its health benefits.
Different species of stingless bees that are found in Kakamega forest usually produce high-quality honey besides aiding the pollination of crop in the predominantly agrarian western Kenya, says Maxwell Ikutwa, a small-holder farmer.
According to Ikutwa, domesticating the stingless bees has provided farmers an alternative livelihood, besides encouraging them to conserve an indigenous forest that is closely tied to their heritage.
"At least we are able to feed and educate our children from the proceeds of honey instead of cutting down trees for charcoal and firewood. So there is no push to encroach into the forest since we started rearing stingless bees," said Ikutwa.
Nelly Ndung'u, a scientist with ICIPE said that empowering farmers to domesticate stingless bees for honey production and pollination has transformed rural livelihoods and promoted ecosystems' health.
Ndung'u observed that small-holder farmers were in a vantage position to conserve pollinators like bees and butterflies if they were enlightened about multiple benefits to accrue including food security and new income streams.
Kakamega stingless bee farmers package honey in 500 milliliter bottle whose retail price is 500 shillings (about 4.30 US dollars), according to Joyce Saina, a honey harvester.
She added that one-liter bottle of honey costs 8.59 US dollars and the demand for the commodity by national retail chains has spiked, prompting farmers to improve on harvesting, storage and packaging techniques.
Frindina Khavere, Kakamega County Apiculture Development officer said local authorities had developed new policy tools besides leveraging training, awareness and market linkages to encourage more farmers to rear stingless bees, boost rural income and forests' conservation. ■