You will soon be able to buy queens

Justin Kiprono, a farmer from Baringo County, embarked on raising bees in 2012 by installing hives and waiting for the bees to colonize them.

With Baringo among the best producers of honey, the farmer knew that it would only take a few weeks or even days for the bees.

"I had built a thatched shading and then hung 45 hives inside, hanging them several meters off the ground," recalls the owner of the Bogoria Special Honey.

After about six months, he was shocked to find that only a third of the hives had been occupied.

Today, bees are still taking longer to colonize hives in Baringo, an area initially rich in insects, thanks to desert plants such as acacia.

"In the past, pollinators were everywhere. There were many native acacia trees in the area, which gives honey a unique taste, "said the farmer, who currently owns more than 80 fully colonized hives.

But over the years, the farmer found that the bee population had rapidly declined in the area where it was possible to install 100 hives, but only three would be colonized after six months.

"The burning of charcoal has been widespread, resulting in deforestation. Many people have also started to grow fruits and vegetables and therefore tend to apply too many pesticides, which is detrimental to bees, "he said at the World Food Day celebrations. bee, Monday.

The declining bee population has seen annual honey production fall from 35,000 tonnes to 25,000 tonnes, leaving a consumption gap of 13,000 tonnes.

Nevertheless, scientists are working to solve the problem of the scarcity of bees thanks to new technologies.

Stephen Kagio, a researcher on bees at Egerton University, said they were currently working on a propaganda project aimed at getting farmers to buy mature queens to create their beekeeping farms instead of "farmers." wait for the insects to colonize their hives.

Joel Masobo, a bee scientist at the same university, said the technology involved harvesting 10-hour old bee larvae, which were then taken to a virgin bank, where they were reared in compartments.

"Once they grow up, they are placed in separate compartments, after which they are mated and left to lay," he suggested.

He explained that young queens could then be used to replace older ones or used in a new hive.

"While the life expectancy of a queen is 4 to 5 years old, her mother is mostly prolific the first two years. We therefore want to encourage farmers to keep young queens for consistently high production, "said Masobo.

Through technology, farmers can also avoid the variability of production, where many find that a honey in a hive lacks honey due to the lack of colony, while the others have a lot.

"Many farmers complain that their hives are not colonized. We need royal bee propagation technologies to boost bee breeding, "said Kagio.

Kagio, who is also president of the beekeeping platform, said that the main focus of the bee was pollination, but that most people did not know it.

"We tell farmers to grow sunflowers and avocados, which requires pollination, but we do not tell them how crops will be pollinated. That's why we need to turn to the pollination service, "said the lecturer in agriculture at Egerton University.

Without bees, the chances of cross-pollination are reduced, which considerably reduces food production, which worries farmers.

Scientists attribute this decline to soil degradation, habitat loss and climate change, which has resulted in prolonged drought, forcing bees to migrate to other regions.

Sheila Koech, a researcher at the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology (Icipe), said she has formed several farmer groups around the Kakamega Forest, Taita Hills and Mwingi at the same time. bee breeding without sting.

These species visit several trees and produce a high quality and medicinal honey compared to the African bee.

"We have identified various species such as the carpenter bee, which does not produce honey, and the 12 species of stingless bees we are currently training farmers for what they adopt."