Ndumberi bee farmers have been urged to embrace modern bee farming in order to increase productivity and profitability.
Speaking to bee farmers in Ndumberi on Wednesday, Kiambu Sub-County Livestock officer Lydiah Mariga noted that many farmers were still using the traditional round trunk beehives which led to honey wastage during harvesting.
"Some farmer still have to burn the bees in order to harvest honey and in the process lose a lot of honey because they use traditional hives. The honey harvested is also of poor quality. This should not be the case,” said Mariga.
Mariga advised the farmers to use the modern langstroth beehives which she said are efficient and increase honey production.
"The hive is made in a manner that allows more honeycomb attachments and easy harvesting without disturbing the bees much,” she added.
She also observed that the hives were well ventilated which gave the bees a natural effect and thus increased honey production, adding that the construction of the hives was cheap as materials were easily available in the area.