Importance of co-operatives in the honey sector
Honey products from Yatta Beekeepers Limited are displayed at the company's processing facility in Juja, Kiambu County, on June 11, 2026.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation Media Group
Deputy Vice-Chancellor
The Cooperative University of Kenya
Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid lands (ASALs) possess under-tapped opportunities in apiculture, yet we import honey! From a 2025 report by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, Kenya has a production capacity of over 100,000 metric tonnes (MT) of honey and 10,000MT of beeswax annually. But, according to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics in 2023, the country produced only 17,151MT of honey and about 3,212MT of beeswax.
The deficit results from fragmented production, weak market linkages, limited processing capacity, and inadequate support services for beekeepers. This presents a compelling case for stronger investment in the sector, with producer cooperatives offering a practical pathway to unlocking honey’s full economic, environmental, and social benefits.
Most Kenyan beekeepers operate small-scale and sell low-priced raw honey. Cooperatives can aggregate production to achieve scale, negotiate better prices, and access markets that individual farmers can. Also, they can invest in modern honey extraction equipment, processing facilities, storage infrastructure, and quality assurance systems that meet both domestic and export market requirements.
To improve quality demanded by high-value consumers, cooperatives will provide training on hive management, harvesting techniques, post-harvest handling, and certification processes. By ensuring consistent quality, cooperatives can position Kenyan honey in competitive premium local and international markets.
Premium prices
ASALs stand to reap from cooperative-led beekeeping. They possess abundant acacia woodlands that produce distinctively flavoured floral honey cherished by consumers. With proper traceability, acacia-derived honey could command premium prices in niche markets.
Cooperatives will process, package, brand, and market value-added honey products. And beeswax can be transformed into candles, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical ingredients, while propolis and royal jelly offer additional high-value income streams. Diversification will increase farmer earnings and create employment opportunities along the honey value chain.
While bees themselves do not generate carbon credits, they enhance the ecological performance of conservation and restoration projects that qualify for credits. Bees pollinate flowering plants, improve seed production and support healthy forests that sequester carbon. In agroforestry systems, bees improve the productivity of fruit trees and crops grown alongside trees, encouraging farmers to retain and expand tree cover. As communities recognise the economic value of healthy ecosystems, they have stronger incentives to conserve forests and flowering plants that sustain bee populations.
Importantly, beekeeping provides communities with income drawn from keeping forests intact, thus reducing pressure on forests while supporting landscape restoration initiatives.
Carbon buyers will pay premium prices for projects that deliver strong biodiversity and community benefits alongside carbon sequestration. Integrating beekeeping into restoration projects can therefore increase the attractiveness and value of carbon credits while creating additional income streams for cooperators.
Kenya has the ingredients to build a competitive honey industry: favourable climate, rich biodiversity, indigenous bee species, and growing domestic and international demand. Farmer cooperatives provide the institutional framework to unlock Kenya’s full honey production potential. Cooperatives will organize producers, strengthen value addition, improve quality and connect farmers to lucrative markets, ensuring full value from every drop of honey and every hectare of conserved landscape.
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Prof Nyamongo, a multiple award-winning anthropologist and Fulbright Scholar, is deputy vice-chancellor at The Cooperative University of Kenya. [email protected]. @Prof_IKNyamongo
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