The environment has a huge impact on differences among bee colonies due to stimuli and response, but the genetic makeup of a colony is the basis for many of the features that define a particular sub-species of honey bee.

For as long as honey bees have been domesticated, beekeepers have known that different genetic stocks have distinctive differences that can be used to their advantage or ignored to their disadvantage.

There are 5 main points to consider when searching for and choosing a bee stock according to the American Bee Journal. Others take it to a a level of detail that may be beyond a new beekeeper or even a practiced beekeeper of 6 years. These types of selection include:
1. Production
2. Location
3. Temperament
4. Disease resistance
5. Quality of products
6. Reproduction Rates
7. Swarming Rates

The Main Subspecies of Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera)
In the United States there are 6 main stocks of honey bees. Each strain has been studied and observed to have a variety of attributes that may be helpful to know in making your choice.

The Italian Honey Bee ( Apis mellifera ligustica )
Italian Honey Bees are some of the most widely used races of honey bee stock. They originated in Italy, hence the name, and were brought to the United States in 1859. They are known for their prolific brood cycles and production, gentle nature and reluctance to swarm. As excellent producers, most commercial beekeepers will use Italians as their main source of production. They are very light colored, almost completely yellow in some colonies, making them aesthetically pleasing to the eye and fairly easy to identify.

The Russian Bee (from Primorsky Krai region of Russia )
Russian bees were brought to the United States in 1997 by the USDA in response to the increase in colony collapse due to parasites. They have been noted to have natural capabilities and colony tolerance to handle varroa and tracheal mites.

Russian bees tend to rear brood only during times of nectar and pollen flows, making this subspecies heavily reliant on the surrounding environment.

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Most of times people consume everything that they come across, if amount of sugar content in it is relatively high without knowing its pros and cons to their bodies.

We all say as sweet as honey,but what could be nutritional value of honey? The following are advantages associated with honey consumption.

Remedy for Cough.
Honey is known to be one of the best home remedies for dry cough as well as wet cough. Research has also shown that drinking a tablespoon of honey can reduce irritation in the throat. Honey is the preferred natural remedy for cough, especially for kids, as it helps to relieve cough, allowing proper sleep.

Used for Healing Wounds
Honey has antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant properties, which is why honey is used for healing wounds. After any skin injury, bacteria that live on your skin can infect and penetrate the wound site. Honey, has been found to destroy these bacteria completely.

Weight Management.
Did you know you can use Honey for Weight management? According to the famous author and nutritionist Mike McInnes, honey burns body fat even while when you are sleeping. It is one of the best foods for losing weight. Doctors recommend to have a spoonful of honey before going to bed. You can also consume a little
honey with warm water on empty stomach early in the morning. Having it first thing in the morning, helps increase the metabolism, which in turn helps reduce weight faster. Honey is also good for improving your overall health.

Cures gum diseases.
Honey’s anti-bacterial and infection healing properties help in treating and healing wounds. Teeth and gum diseases like gingivitis, bleeding and plaque can be treated to a great extent with the regular use of honey. Honey is known to release antiseptic hydrogen peroxide which acts as anti-microbial agent that prevents the growth of bacteria. Experts’ advice the use of raw honey mixed with water to be used as mouthwash. Also rubbing honey directly on affected gums gives instant relief from pain and inflammation.

Nourishes your skin and face
Using Honey for skin is very useful because of its moisturizing and nourishing properties. Honey is the best natural moisturizer, especially for your dry skin and it is also very easy to apply.

From the above analysis its true that no need to use artificial curative drugs while we still have natural ones.Agriculture have got a lot of benefits to the farmers and to the country.

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Bee farming like any other animal rared in a farm have got diseases that affect it over its life cycle.

The following are some of major diseases that attack bees.

American Foulbrood is a highly lethal and contagious disease of honey bees, caused by the spore-forming bacteria Bacillus larvae . The larvae is the, that is affected most.

To control this , Antibiotics may be used even though , do not kill this bacteria or prevent the disease, but merely hold it off temporarily. Colonies known to be infected with American Foulbrood must be destroyed by burning to prevent the disease from spreading to a other hives and other nearby apiaries.

European Foulbrood is another bacterial disease, although slightly less contagious, If diagnosed at an early stage, a colony can recover from this.

Sacbrood Virus affects only the honey bee larvae, and is mildly contagious within the hive. Typically, the disease can be stopped by requeening a colony. The break in the brood cycle allows worker bees to remove all infected larvae during an interval when no American Foulbrood is a highly lethal and contagious disease of honey bees, caused by the spore-forming bacteria Bacillus larvae ,the disease causes larvae to die.

From the above outlined disease ,its clear that a lot of care needs to be taken so as to make sure bees are free from any infection so that to enhance their production rate. The best way to prevent all these is to ensure the hives are kept clean throughout.

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Bee farming is one of the rewarding and enjoyable occupation as it has a lot of benefits when compared to other farming business.

Capital investment is low compared to other farm enterprise.
Requires little land (50 colonies or hives require a ¼ acre ) which does not have to be fertile.

Bee-keeping is cheap and relatively not competitive to other Agricultural enterprises since it does not compete for resources and labour requirement is low.

A lot of by products are extracted from honey,these include the following,honey,pollen,beeswax,bee venom which are greater source of income.

Bees plays a great role toward environmental conservation,since they are good pollinators of plants,trees and fruits.

Bee keeping in Kenya has been practiced traditionally for a long period of time.
Only 80 % of Kenya consist of arid and semi-arid lands that have high potential for honey production. Bee-farming in these area is the backbone to many farmers. However only 20% of the country’s honey production potential which is estimated to be 100,000 metric tonnes.

Modern bee-keeping in Kenya started towards the end of 1960s and has since become an important enterprise in the livestock sub-sector.

However, a reasonable amount of hive products is obtained from Kenya Top Bar and Langstroth hives. 80% of the honey comes from the traditional log hive.

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Farmer in Nyandarua county are expected to earn extra coin from the new crop known as sugar beet.

This is after a research that was carried out and proved that this crop can do well this region. A factory worth Shs.200 billion will be put at Njabini,at a time when local sugar industry is trying to fight for survival.

The owner of Juanco Group Ltd Jungae Wainaina is setting up the sugar beet extraction plant with a capacity to crush 500 metric tonnes of beet daily that is equivalent to 150 metric tonnes of sugar.

Sugar beet root contains a high concentration of sucrose and is grown for commercial sugar production.

It matures in six months, nearly a third of the best maturity period for sugarcane in the western Kenya.

“The plant would be built in a modular basis with 500 metric tonnes per day for up to 6 modules. This will be under 5,000 acres per module for single cropping or 2,500 acres for two crops annually” Mr Wainaina said in an interview.

Out of climatic change farmers in this region have a reason to smile since they can venture into farming this crop and abandon potatoes ,that have been doing well but their market price is not pleasing. More jobs opportunities will be created immediately the factory plant stat functioning.

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No one could imagine that crocodile meat is good for human consumption, however this nutritional meat tastes almost like a chicken meat. Meaning its a white meat. Although its served in few dinning places across the world.

The following are the benefits associated with the diet.

Low in fat content. Crocodile meat contains less fat when compared to a chicken. Only 11 percent of the fat is served in your meal.

Friendly to your heart. Apart from being rich in protein, crocodile meat have low cholesterol amount,thus making it friendly to consumers heart and one is able to remain health throughout. Its a clear indicator that this meat have pros to our body thus helping us to fight heart diseases.

Under the same beneficial health of crocodile meat its believed that its cures colds as well as asthmas.

Crocodile meat helps in building muscles, this is according to the Health Promotion Board. when served with 100 grams if croc meat,protein content ranges from 46 grams . This makes croc meat to have a treasure of grabbing highest percentage of chest muscle-building .

Instead of going for gym, its better to feed on this meat. Naturally one would perceive crocodile as a harming creature,but when rared in our farms its full of benefits.

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Crocodile farming has a good financial potential but a lot of patient is required till when crocs reach maturity age,this takes three to four years.

The southern and Eastern parts of Kenya provides the best conditions for crocodile farming,though other parts like Kirinyaga have also been conducive for crocs.

In order to venture into this business, you need to meet the following requirements.

Location site of your land. The land should be located on a relatively flat place to enhance the pond to hold water for a long period of time. Generally temperatures should be high,an acre of land can accommodate up to 700 crocodiles.

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Secondly is to get license from Kenya Wildlife Service,According to the wildlife conservation management act ,every person willing to keep crocodile or any other wild animal should apply for a farming permit. This application is made to the Director of KWS through the nearest KWS regional office. The license is renewed annually at a cost Ksh 2000.

Three you need to acquire eggs for your farm .Croc eggs are readily available and especially to areas surrounding Tana Delta.
To do this you need license from KWS and per egg collected you will pay twenty Bob ,for hatching you can take them either at mamba village in Mombasa since there is good hatching conditions.

Basically the minimum amount that one can have in order to venture into this business is Ksh.150,000. However the cost may increase depending on the number of crocs rared ,feeding and number of caretaker one have. Constructing a farm Ksh.50,000 is enough.

Most importantly provide adequate food to the crocodiles, mostly they feed on slaughterhouse waste,dead chicken and maize germ mixed with blood.

This is a clear prove that youths can combine efforts and start their own crocodile farm ,thus employing themselves and creating jobs to others who are jobless.With this they will have played a great role toward the growth of economy through cash paid by tourist and export of croc by products.

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when people here the word reptile they directly think of worrying creatures that are unfriendly to human. But do you know it’s possible to make cash out of them.

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commercial croc farming premise is among the complex industry in Kenya,but at the same time needs huge amount of money to start .You have to invest a lot before the crocodiles reach maturity age, thus enabling the farmer to source from them, when they are suitable for selling their meat and hinds in the international markets.

Kenya is one of the country where crocodile farming is taking place even though the activity is not popular among the farmers.

Large scale crocodile farmers yield a lot when compared to small scale farmers.

How can one start crocodile farming ? Is there any nutritional value ? For these and more on the next article

Over the past few months Kenyan farmers have been experiencing fertilizer shortage but now they have a reason to smile.

The national treasury has released 2 billion shillings for the purpose of purchasing fertiliser for farmers as we approach the rainy season.

“Last week on Friday we were able to receive Shs.2 billion from the national treasurely ” said cabinet secretary, Agriculture, Mwangi Kiunjuri.

Before the fertilizer is sold to farmers at a subsidized price, meeting will be held to determine on the logistics that shall be Laid down to distribute the fertiliser to all farmers across the country.

“As a ministry we are still having meetings with governors trying to look on how we can ease access fertilizer before the rain starts,procument process have kicked off so as to ensure the law is followed,” Kiunjuri told.

Farmers have questioned the process following last year’s happenings at the ministry where cartels benefited.

However, the minister is yet to procure the fertiliser following delays, and farmers are feeling they will have purchased the product at their cost since rain has began beating some areas.

As a country we need to have good strategies of ensuring farm inputs are readily available.

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