Savannah Honey has been named Kenya’s Best Beekeeping Company of the Year at the National Business Leadership Awards (NaBLA), held yesterday at the Weston Hotel in Nairobi, in recognition of its nationwide farmer training, modern equipment, guaranteed markets, and heavy investment in farmer recruitment.

The company is currently rolling out one of the largest apiculture programmes in East Africa, recruiting 7,000 farmers under long-term supply contracts that include free training, installation, technical support, and guaranteed purchase of all bee products.

“Kenya has the perfect climate for beekeeping, yet most hives remain empty or unproductive,” said CEO Kyalo Mutua, who received the award alongside Program Manager Winfred Muindi and Head of Communications Lameck Tala. “Our mission is to change that by supporting farmers from hive setup to sale, giving them the skills, equipment, and market they have always lacked.”

Under the programme, Savannah equips farmers with Langstroth hives at subsidised prices and provides monthly inspections and 24-hour support. Farmers are paid within 24 hours of delivery for their products through M-Pesa, bank transfer, or cash. The company guarantees fixed contract prices — Sh500 per kilo of honey, Sh1,900 for propolis, Sh6,800 for bee pollen, Sh700 for wax, Sh38,000 for royal jelly, and Sh4,000 per gram of bee venom.

Mutua said Savannah’s model directly tackles the main barriers that have held back small-scale beekeeping: poor hive management, weak training, crude harvesting, and lack of reliable buyers, with most middlemen still paying only Sh150–200 per kilo for raw honey.

Savannah has established a countrywide network of collection and training centres, each providing free monthly courses in hive management, harvesting, and product handling. Farmers producing over 150 kilograms of any product have their transport costs covered, while contracted farmers receive equipment discounts of 10 per cent.

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“This is not a pilot—it’s a national movement,” said Mutua. “We are already onboarding thousands of farmers and expect the impact to be visible in household incomes within the year. A well-managed hive can produce 10 to 15 kilos of honey per harvest, and the returns from bee products like pollen and venom are among the highest in agriculture.”

With Kenya still importing more than 80 per cent of the honey it consumes, Savannah’s expansion is reshaping the country’s apiculture industry. “Our goal is to make Kenya self-sufficient in honey and to give rural families a steady income from land that would otherwise lie idle,” said Mutua.

Savannah Honey now leads the national push to transform beekeeping into a major income stream for smallholder farmers, using a model that combines innovation, training, and prompt payment to lift productivity and incomes across the country.

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