EAWLS and the Ministry of Livestock in Msambweni District have come together to help modernise beekeeping in Vanga, on the Kenyan coast, to help fight poverty.

The two held workshops on May 4-7 on the use of modern beekeeping equipment and technology to empower 30 people to use bees as a way of making money.

Wild bees are seen by many people in both rural and urban areas as nasty insects which are harmful to people, animals and their property. The relocation of problem bees to other safe places often requires a lot of resources and is time consuming. Many people have little knowledge on the positive aspects of bees tools for rural poverty reduction and sustainable management of forest resources.

Vanga hosts the largest tracts of mangrove forests in the south coast of Kenya but beekeeping in the area has remained mostly traditional, and the practice has been constrained by a number of factors ranging from poor production methods to chronic lack of appropriate equipment such as bee hives, smoker pumps, protective clothing, and honey harvesting and processing equipment. Additionally up to date technical knowledge of bee husbandry has been lacking. This has in turn led undermined the potential of people to tackle poverty through cash for bees. There is thus a need to build the capacity of local communities through facilitation of access to training, information, technical advice as well as support.

The workshop had two objectives: 1) to train the local community members in beekeeping skills and catalyse them to engage in beekeeping as a means to improve their well-being and self-reliance as a nature based alternative livelihood option; and 2) Transforming the current smallholder beekeeping efforts in the area into an economically viable agri-business venture. The trainees demonstrated enthusiasm and heightened interest to engage in commercial beekeeping. This could translate into more active involvement in collaborative arrangements for the protection of forest resources that their new apiculture ventures will depend upon.