How Nuru Kenya equips farmers and pastoralists to diversify their incomes and adapt to climate change through beekeeping

In 2025, Nuru Kenya provided training to Baringo County beekeeping farmers and pastoralists through the National Beekeeping Institute in Lenana, with the ultimate goal of equipping these beekeepers to increase their honey yields and their incomes. The Nuru Kenya team focused on a small cohort, providing training on value addition (making additional items with honey by-products) and compliance (ensuring all necessary certifications were in place to package, sell, and market honey and its by-products. Nuru Kenya has successfully equipped beekeepers to increase their yields, incomes, and grow their number of hives. Building on this, during 2026, Nuru Kenya will support two new cohorts of beekeepers to learn fundamentals in modern beekeeping and biodiversity management, ensuring that more beekeepers conserve their ecosystem, supporting sustainable honey production, and have a sustainable livelihood that benefits their families.

Honey processing and packaging equipment, Baringo County, 2025, Photo Credit: Scott Anger

How is Nuru Kenya supporting beekeepers in 2026?

In the remote landscapes of Baringo County, beekeepers in Tiaty struggle not only to supply this valuable commodity to their community but also to benefit from it due to regulatory barriers, poor road networks, rampant insecurity, and fragmented markets. Nuru Kenya is helping to change this narrative. By supporting subsistence beekeepers to transition into professional agribusinesses, Nuru Kenya ensures that beekeepers’ efforts translate into sustainable, high-value income.

Nuru Kenya is facilitating training through the National Beekeeping Institute again this year, with training scheduled for two cohorts of beekeeping farmers and pastoralists. One group will complete a certificate program on beekeeping basics, while another will complete a course in value addition, learning how to make additional products from honey.

• Basic Beekeeping: The Basic Beekeeping training will equip participants with essential skills in hive management, colony care, harvesting techniques, and general apiary best practices. By strengthening these core competencies, beekeepers are better positioned to improve productivity, maintain hive health, and ensure consistent yields. To complement this training, each participant will also receive a bee suit—an important tool that enhances safety and confidence when handling hives. Access to proper protective gear is critical, especially for new and growing beekeepers, as it encourages more frequent hive inspection and better overall management. 
• Value Addition: This training empowers beekeepers to use centrifugal extraction and refractometers (beekeeping tools that enable them to meet the international 18% moisture standard). Additionally, they will learn to reclaim wasted beeswax to manufacture high-margin secondary products like shoe polish, propolis cosmetics, and candles. This shift allows cooperatives to move from selling raw bulk materials to marketing refined, branded goods, capturing profits previously lost to middlemen and securing year-round revenue independent of harvest seasons.

As beekeepers gain new certifications and increase their confidence in this livelihood, production improves, and beekeepers are more likely to invest additional time into beekeeping, as the increased income is valuable to them. 

Traditional beehives in Baringo County, 2025, Photo Credit: Scott Anger

Traditional beehives in Baringo County, 2025, Photo Credit: Scott Anger

Nuru Kenya’s Vision for Beekeeping Farmers and Pastoralists

Nuru Kenya envisions a future where Baringo County beekeepers are no longer limited to selling raw honey to middle players who profit from beekeepers’ limited opportunities. It intends to position beekeepers to refine, package, and sell better-quality honey at a good price point. Nuru Kenya builds connections between rural agribusinesses and county governments. The Baringo County Government has provided consistent support to beekeepers, equipping them to acquire modern hives, particularly the Kenyan Top Bar hives, to promote improved beekeeping practices. These efforts coupled with Nuru’s training enable beekeepers to increase honey yields, quality, and income. As participants benefit from extension services provided by Nuru and the Baringo County and National Government officers, they are also positioned to acquire the certifications necessary for processing the harvested honey into other valuable products. By tailoring support to beekeepers at different stages of the beekeeping journey, Nuru cultivates more resilient, skilled, and market-ready beekeeping businesses in Tiaty.

Strengthening Cooperative Agribusinesses in Baringo County

Nuru Kenya works to strengthen producer groups and cooperatives agribusinesses, recognizing that individual farmers and pastoralists often lack the bargaining power necessary to secure fair prices in a competitive market. By aggregating yields, these groups can engage in collective bargaining, allowing cooperative members to negotiate from a position of strength rather than as isolated sellers.

Beyond improved pricing, the cooperative model unlocks resources that are otherwise inaccessible to individual households. For example, farmers benefit from technical training, exposure visits, and peer learning opportunities that equip them to grow their business. Furthermore, this collaborative approach fosters climate resilience by providing them with an opportunity to pursue an existing alternative livelihood that is less dependent on consistent rainfall and stable weather patterns. This income diversification supports climate resilience for both individual farmers and pastoralists as well as their member-owned agribusinesses.

Tiaty Women’s Honey Cooperative Society

Women from Tiaty Women’s Honey Cooperative, 2025, Photo Credit: Scott Anger

The true catalyst for growth in the honey industry is quality assurance, and Nuru Kenya is thrilled to announce that the Tiaty Women’s Honey Cooperative Society has officially achieved Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) registration. This milestone represents an intensive journey of linking the cooperative to national and local government licensing, preparing them for rigorous inspections, and professionalizing every aspect of their operations.

With this certification, the women beekeepers at Tiaty Women’s Honey Cooperative can now move beyond informal roadside sales and place their products on high-end retail shelves, transforming their earning potential. Furthermore, the cooperative is now positioned to bargain for higher prices from buyers who will pay a higher premium for branded, safe, and high-quality honey. With Tiaty now leading the way as a proven model of success, Nuru Kenya is scaling this impact, with one additional cooperative currently preparing for its  KEBS registration.

How Stella is Transforming a Community

Stella (on the left) and her colleague, 2025, Photo Credit: Scott Anger

Stella is a mother, schoolteacher, farmer, and the formidable Chairperson of the Tiaty Women Honey Cooperative Society. For years, Stella attempted to navigate the complex web of red tape required for official recognition. While she was eager to put in the necessary effort to acquire the Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) certification, Stella lacked the resources and struggled to discern the clear next steps for gaining local and national licensing. Nuru stepped in to address these challenges, equipping Stella with the technical support and the rigorous inspection prep required to help her and her fellow women beekeepers gain this certification.

“She was so excited! She called Pauline, the  Managing Director at Nuru Kenya, immediately to share the news,” -Tom, Nuru Kenya COO

Men in Tiaty traditionally hold the decision-making power while tending to pastoralist duties away from home. Historically, women have had little voice in household or financial matters, but Stella is changing that narrative. By earning an independent income, Stella and her colleagues at the cooperative are able to meaningfully contribute to their household income. Through Stella’s leadership, these women farmers not only have money to support themselves and their families, but they have a new sense of agency. 

This shift has a direct impact on the entire household:

• Decision-Making Power: Women are now better positioned to make key household choices.
• Nutrition: With more financial resources, families can eat better, more balanced meals.
• Education & Essentials: Income can be funneled directly into school fees and clothing for children.

Tradition Meets Transformation: Jonathan’s Path to Agribusiness

Jonathan in a tree with one of his traditional hives, 2025, Photo Credit: Scott Anger

Jonathan balances many roles: father, pastoralist, and beekeeper. His 50 hives—a mixture of traditional hand-carved logs and 2 modern units—represent a significant opportunity for growth. LIe other beekeepers in the region, despite his hard work, Jonathan faces the many hurdles in remote beekeeping, particularly exploitative middlemen who undercut prices. Currently, he sells honey by the bucket, which means that he misses out on significant profits found in the processing of wax and propolis that buyers currently take from him at no cost.

Nuru Kenya is helping Jonathan transition from subsistence beekeeping to a profitable agribusiness through three key focus areas:

• Modernization: Encouraging a shift from traditional log hives to modern equipment, supporting both increased honey yields and efficiency.
• Value Addition Training: Teaching Jonathan how to harvest and process byproducts like beeswax and propolis, ensuring he captures the full value of his hives rather than just selling raw honey.
• Cooperative Power: Strengthening his existing cooperative to solve transport challenges and bypass middlemen, allowing members to sell directly to premium buyers.
• By bridging the gap between traditional skills and modern market requirements, Nuru Kenya is ensuring that beekeepers like Jonathan no longer see their profits disappear. With the right training, his honey yields can provide the sustainable income his family deserves.

Next Steps for Beekeepers in Baringo County

Jonathan and Stella represent two of the 300 beekeepers supported by Nuru Kenya in Baringo County. In just one year, with Nuru Kenya’s support, these beekeepers have already averaged a 31% increase in yields, translating to a 25% income increase. Beekeepers have also demonstrated an increased commitment to investing in this livelihood, with a 74% increase in hives per beekeeper. Nuru Kenya will continue supporting beekeepers to build on these successes in the year ahead, while expanding its support to an additional 900 beekeepers. Nuru Kenya remains focused on increased honey yields, increased income, and ongoing professionalization of cooperative agribusinesses to support climate resilience at both the household and community level.