Plans are in top gear in Baringo County for this year’s national World Bee Day celebration to be held at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) grounds in Marigat town, Baringo South constituency.
According to the County Executive Committee (CEC) Member for Agriculture and Livestock Risper Chepkonga, the annual event held every May 20 will be preceded by a two-day workshop of bee farmers across the seven sub counties on best practices on promotion of honey production.
Chepkonga who spoke to KNA on Monday stated that they will be expecting top government officials to grace the occasion which will also play host to over 40 exhibitors from within and beyond the country.
She urged local farmers to attend the important event from which apart from gaining knowledge and modern skills, will also serve as a platform to interact and exchange ideas with experts and researchers in the field.
“It will be a three-day programme where farmers will be visiting various honey processing units during the first day, a symposium the next day and climax with a street parade in Marigat town as well as exhibitions at the main event. I am urging all Baringo farmers to attend without fail,” the agriculture CECM urged residents.
Chepkonga said that by hosting the event, the county which produces 860 metric tonnes of honey out of a possible 4,500 produced countrywide will benefit since farmers will be trained on ways to get maximum production of honey which will in turn boost their income.
The CECM stated that her department has put in place elaborate plans to streamline the sector like collaborating with Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions within the county to fabricate modern beehives for farmers in order to improve productivity.
“We have a total of 152, 518 traditional beehives in our county, Kenyan top bar hives are 28,241 while the Langstroth beehives are 3,560 but we shall not be stopping at that since we want to involve everybody in honey production including women since it an easy type of farming that requires less concentration,” she said.
Area governor Benjamin Cheboi during a recent event at Katimok Baringo North Sub County said his administration aims to promote honey production in order to increase the annual county income accruing from the sale of honey from Sh1 billion to Sh3 billion.
Cheboi said that apart from linkages to export honey to Europe, Southeast Asia and Middle East countries, plans are underway to establish the first honey factory in the county to support in processing honey products and job creation for thousands of unemployed youth.
By Joshua Kibet
