Beekeeping

An article from the October 2022 ESRAG Newsletter By Eng. Felix Kariuki, Lavington Eco Rotary Club

Kenyan and American Rotarians are teaming up with a Maasai community and the Kenyan NGO Acacia Moyo to protect land vital both to wildlife and the Maasai, who are perfectly poised to be leaders in environmental stewardship of Kenya’s fragile natural resources. Kenya’s oldest Rotary Club (Nairobi), one of its newest (Lavington Eco), and the Rotary Club of Los Alamos (New Mexico) are raising money for a bore well as part of Acacia Moyo’s beekeeping initiative.

Beekeeping can generate significant income for the Maasai because of its low operating costs and the huge unmet demand for honey in Kenya and worldwide. The region’s indigenous acacia trees provide pollen that produces a distinctively sweet honey. The bore well will irrigate a bee forage garden with the potential for four honey harvests a year, generating new revenue that will reduce the pressure on Maasai families to sell off their land to meet their families' needs. It will also reduce their dependence on pastoralism, which generates significant greenhouse gas emissions.

Photo: The Ntalala Women Microfinance Group working on their beehive community assessment

Kitengela is a marginalized community of approximately 7,000 people living on the Athi-Kapiti plains, just south of Nairobi National Game Park in Kenya. Maasai livelihood is focused on livestock. The Kitengela Maasai still own thousands of acres of land, and Acacia Moyo is working to equip them to keep it by generating new income from careers that combine their deep understanding of land stewardship with opportunities in the 21st century economy.

Urban sprawl, dire poverty, and the forced sale of their grazing lands threaten the Maasai’s survival. Cattle are a Maasai’s bank account, which they use to pay school fees, bride price, and other expenses. Without grazing land, a Maasai cannot keep cattle. Without cattle, he is not a Maasai. The loss of land leads to a loss of identity, culture, tradition, and community.

The loss of land also causes havoc to the wildlife population of the Athi-Kapiti plains, which is a dispersal and breeding area for many species of animals that live in the Nairobi National Game Park. It also forms part of the essential migratory corridor for animals moving to and from the Serengeti in Tanzania and Maasai Mara in Kenya. The Maasai are a vital element in this equation as they are natural conservationists. They do not hunt, live peacefully alongside wildlife, and possess irreplaceable knowledge about each species’ habits. The Wildlife Foundation, located in the midst of the community, trains many Maasai to become invaluable rangers and anti-