Kenyan bee-keepers taste sweet success
Related pages: Kenya
country profile | MDG 8: Aid, trade,
growth and global partnership
Image courtesy of World Bank
The Business Partnership Programme has been a key component of DFID's trade-related
capacity building (TRCB) activities in Kenya. It supports, among other things, the improvement of the
business and investment climate in Kenya, in order to enhance the domestic
capacity to produce and export, both regionally and internationally.
The bee-keeping project was one of three projects directly related to trade
and was an example of trade development projects that can be linked directly to
poverty reduction and gender equality. It also demonstrated how small producers
can be helped to access regional and international markets.
The idea was to support the establishment of a sustainable framework for
commercial bee keeping (leasing scheme, commercial extension services, linkages
to markets, training and demonstration facilities, etc).
The activity involved is not very labour- or land-intensive and so allowed farmers and
smallholders to increase their income using their limited assets.
How it worked
Image courtesy of World Bank
The project brought together a business organisation (Honey Care Africa) with
the non-government organisation Africa Now, in order to be able to reach small
farmers in Western Kenya.
The financial support of the Business Partnership Programme allowed Honey
Care Africa and Africa Now to successfully conduct and scale-up their activities
on many fronts: bee-keeping demonstrations, development of the micro-financing
scheme which allows farmer to buy the hives manufactured by the firm, capacity
building of training centres, development of extension services, foreign
(European) and domestic market development.
According to the North-South Institute's evaluation in 2004, the bee keeping
project had a positive impact on Honey Care Africa as well as on the bee keepers
themselves. It also had a direct impact on gender equality as a majority of the
bee keepers involved in the project are women, often through women's groups or
as a result of the training facilities are close to where the bee keepers live.
Bee-keeping contributed to poverty reduction in one poor region of Kenya by
raising incomes of smallholders in more than 200 households. Importantly, it improved the
firm's capacity to export by supporting the development and approval
of a residue plan.
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Exporting success
Image courtesy of World Bank
Approximately 90% of honey products sold in Kenya used to be imported and now, in
a complete reversal, 90% of it is produced domestically.
The demonstration effects are going beyond Kenya, as Honey Care has been
asked to replicate its model in Tanzania and to provide training in Eastern
Europe.
The model of the Business Partnership Programme is being used by the World
Bank in new work with the private sector.
Finally, the BPP brought a lot of
international attention to Honey Care Africa which has subsequently received
several international prizes.
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