I am Eutichus Kyungu, the second Chairperson of the Kamaki Farmers’ Cooperative Society which
deals with the Honey Value Chain. (2018-2022)
My interest in beekeeping emanated from my father Kyungu Mwanaa Mue who
was a very successful beekeeper in the 20th century. He had close to 300 traditional log hives
and used to harvest an average of 3 tonnes per season.
During my father’s era, there was a lot of exploitation by brokers and the harvests could not
cater for our livelihood. He could not pay school fees, buy food for the family, or clothes
to cover ourselves. We used to go to school barefoot.
Honey harvesting in our father’s time was done poorly. They could not follow the right post-harvest handling procedures and were not taking the other hive products as beneficial to them. They only practiced bee-having instead of beekeeping. Hives were not placed in
apiary sites but instead were scattered over and hung on tall trees. This limited women, youth, and
people living with disabilities from entering into this occupation.
