Joshua Kinyua, at the Subuiga Bee Keepers Association apiary, on the edge of Ngare Ndare forest

MERU: Facing a threat from marauding elephants? Eureka! Bees are the perfect solution, as residents living around the Ngare Ndare forest in Imenti have discovered.

John Ndirangu, a bee specialist working in the Agriculture department, says bees are a perfect weapon to ward off elephants.

“The beehives are placed five metres apart. Elephants do not like the buzzing of bees because it is a big nuisance and causes them great discomfort. Elephants will not come anywhere near bees,” says Mr Ndirangu.

Governor Peter Munya last week kicked off a project to distribute beehives to groups living around forests.

“Deaths and injuries resulting from the human-wildlife conflict have been reported in surrounding areas,” says Joshua Kinyua, the field manager of the 5,554-hectare forest that is part of the Upper Imenti forest.

Now residents of Ngare Ndare forest and other areas facing threats from elephants have a respite as they have beehives to ward off jumbos from people’s farms and homes.

PERENNIAL ATTACKS

Mr Munya, while releasing the first batch of 1,000 hives, said they will help residents deal with perennial attacks and destruction of crops by elephants.

“Apart from warding off elephants, we want small-scale farmers to be assured of income from honey. Land is becoming more scarce, so bee keeping is the way to go in empowering rural families,” Munya said.

He said a honey-making factory will soon be built.

The 1,000 hives are expected to produce over 54,000 kilos of honey per year. With a kilo going for up to Sh500, farmers are expected to earn Sh27 million a year.

Many residents have been trampled to death by elephants roaming in the Imenti, Nkunga and Ngare Ndare forests.

“We also suffer entire crop losses when they come into our farms. We have to depend on relief food. But we put 20 hives around our farm and no elephant has visited yet,” said Duncan Kirimi, a farmer at Kithoka, where several people have been injured and killed by elephants, in recent times.

One hive has a capacity for up to 80,000 bees.

“We have hundreds of hives mounted around the forest boundary, some from the county government and others from the Community Development Trust Fund, a partnership between the national government and the European Union,” said a Mr Kinyua.

John Kaburu, a member of the Subuiga Beekeepers Association, says apart from warding off elephants, he is able to educate, feed and clothe his children with income from sale of honey.

“I harvest 200 kilogrammes of honey every four months. I sell a kilo at Sh500. The demand is too high, so I have very little for my family’s consumption,” he said.

John Kithinji, the chairman of the association, says with one hive able to produce 20kg of honey every four months, and their use to protect the farmers from elephants, it is a good venture.

Mr Ndirangu says most people are unaware of the potential there is in beekeeping.

“Most people think honey is the most expensive product from bees. But actually, royal jelly, a whitish substance derived from young bees, is the most expensive, because 10 grammes of it goes for Sh10,000! Honey with a sprinkling of royal jelly is Sh1,500 a kilo,” says the bee specialist.

Ndirangu says bee venom, harvested by making the bees sting a surface, is medicine for arthritis.

“Another product from bees is propolys, which is used to manufacture disinfectants,” he says.

“Even combs are a libido booster, the reason why older men of years yonder used to have as many as ten wives. Conception rates were very high! Actually, honey is the cheapest bee product,” says Ndirangu.