Branded Nyaru farm honey raedy for market. Processing and parckging honey earns the farm more money as compered to selling raw honey.
Nyaru honey farm in Uasin Ngishu County is earning Sh800 per kilogram of processed and packaged honey as compared to Sh100 a kilogram of raw honey, thanks to value addition that the farm adopted towards the end of 2016 to enable the farm reach more markets with a quality product.
The farm started with 15 beehives in 2015 from which about 75 kilograms of raw honey could be harvested per season and sold to direct consumers at Sh100 per kilo. However, this changed in 2016 when the farm purchased 30 more beehives and a centrifugal honey extractor machine to improve honey quality and quantity.
“Though we currently have our 32 beehives fully occupied with bees, we harvest 200Kg of raw honey a season from ten beehives giving us over 150Kg refined honey,” said Geoffrey Ng’etich, the farm manager.
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“The centrifugal honey extractor machine enables us extract honey from the honey combs without destroying them. The extractor is manually operated and it can be used by one person to extract honey from over 30 beehives.”
The farm operates under Graduate Internship Programme (GRIP), the programme which gives the youth and women opportunity and support to venture in various businesses to earn a living.
To keep the beehives packed with bees, the farm has planted flowering plants such as sunflower, acacia, avocadoes and orange fruit trees among other trees to help attract the bees and provide nectar for honey production.
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The farm buys its packaging bottles from Eldoret Town and Nairobi where a bottle costs Sh20. The bottle are then labelled ‘Nyaru Honey’ as the brand identification.
Honey is then filled in the bottles and sold directly to customers who come to the farm to buy or place orders in GRIP offices in Eldoret Town.
A 500g bottle of honey goes at Sh400 while that of 250g fetches Sh200 per bottle.
The farm has further applied for Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) for their product certification to allow them access more markets and win tenders with supermarkets and retail shops.
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“Lack of certification papers from the buereau is limiting us from reaching bigger markets at the moment. However, in the near future, once we get out certificate we will move to market our products countrywide, applying for supply tenders from the supermarkets and retail shops,” said Ng’etich.
“We are also projecting to start harvesting from 33 beehives soon expecting 60Kg refined honey per season. This we expect to earn us approximately Sh48,000 per season.”