A group of women at Ewaso Nyiro area in Narok County has benefited from 25 beehives, thanks to the Free Pentecostal Fellowship of Kenya (FPFK) who sponsored the programme.
The women group dubbed ‘Esipil’ received the bee hives as an alternative means of earning an income and boosting their livelihood.
Narok Livestock officer Ms. Jacinta Wachira who trained the women on bee keeping said the women would earn an average of Sh1.6 million annually from the bee hive project.
She reiterated her commitment to continue training the women so that they could practice value addition on the bee products that would give them more money instead of selling raw products.
“Bees have multiple benefits among them; they can make quetex, medicine, raw honey, perfumes and candles. Other bee products are bee wax, royal jelly among others,” she said.
Ms. Wachira said the project is good for women because it does not interfere with their dairy cores as they could continue with their household chores.
The bee hives, she said, are environmentally friendly and the best project for the organized women group who do not have a source of income.
The programme’s coordinator Kasaine Ole Partoip said their aim is to empower women to access and control resources as well as empowering them to leadership and decision making opportunities.
“Maasai women do not have an opportunity to make decisions and are looked down upon on issues of leadership. For example, in our county we do not have any woman elected as a Member in the County Assembly,” she said.
Apart from the economic gains, Ole Partoip said the women are also trained on being role models to their girls so as to reduce cases of early pregnancies in the county.
Silvia Kaelo, one of the beneficiaries lauded the church for such an initiative saying apart from empowering them spiritually, they were also empowered economically.
“We came together so that we can improve our living standards. We are grateful that today we have received beehives that will expand our avenues of getting money,” she said.
Ms. Kaelo said through the income from beehives, they would help their husbands to pay school fees for their children among other family development programs.
By Ann Salaton
