How bees and farmers are saving each other from a broken food system

By Winnifred Mailu, Head of Programmes Support, and Anna Borsboom, Digital Marketing Manager at Ripple Effect

Bees are more than honey-makers. They are among the most efficient pollinators in nature, and they play a key role in East Africa’s food systems, especially for crops like coffee, avocado, passion fruit, and many vegetables. In fact, 75% of the world’s food crops rely on animal pollination, and bees are the backbone of that system.

Yet across Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and beyond, these essential pollinators are under threat – and with them, the smallholder farmers who rely on pollinated crops for food and income.

In East Africa, the threats to bee populations are particularly acute:

• Habitat loss from deforestation, charcoal burning, and expanding farmland has stripped bees of nesting sites and wild forage.

• Pesticide use is rampant. In Kenya alone, over 30% of pesticides in use are banned in the EU, and yet they remain widely sold to small-scale farmers who don’t know how harmful they are. Many of these are highly toxic to bees, affecting their ability to forage, navigate and reproduce. This is particularly concerning as over 80% of farmland is owned by smallholder farmers in East Africa.

• Monoculture farming, often driven by export markets or government pressure to boost staple crops, has reduced biodiversity – leaving bees with limited nutrition and increasing their exposure to chemicals.

• The climate crisis is already shifting rainfall patterns across the region. Heavier rains, shorter springs, and rising temperatures are affecting when flowers bloom and when bees emerge to forage. Pollination suffers when these weather patterns become unstable.

These problems don't only affect bees. When bee populations collapse, crop yields and farmer incomes suffer as well. For smallholders who depend on agriculture to feed their families and communities, the collapse of pollinator populations is a direct threat to their survival.

The food system in East Africa faces serious challenges, from climate shocks and poor infrastructure to weak markets and political instability, that leave many smallholder farmers vulnerable. These issues are compounded by declining biodiversity, including the loss of bees and other pollinators, which are vital in regenerating degraded and unproductive land.

Many smallholder farmers in East Africa are stepping up as stewards of the environment – with beekeeping (also known as apiculture) offering a practical, ecological solution.

At Ripple Effect, we work with rural farming communities across East Africa to promote climate-smart, agroecological practices that build biodiversity, resilience and income. Beekeeping is central to that approach.

But farmers like Takele aren’t just benefiting from bees - they’re helping bees too. Apiculture groups in Bensa have taken the initiative to establish tree nurseries, planting indigenous trees that improve forage for bees, reduce erosion, and restore balance to the land. This is the kind of mutual relationship we must protect.

Across Ripple Effect’s programmes in East Africa, we help farmers design interconnected farming systems where vegetables, livestock and bees support one another. Instead of relying on monocultures and chemical inputs, these farms mimic nature – with crop diversity, composting, and natural pest management.

On Takele’s farm for example, bees thrive alongside the beans, peas, vegetables, and fruit trees he grows. This mix of plants provides pollen throughout the seasons, boosting both bee health and crop production. It’s a small farm, but it’s rich in life, productivity and resilience.

In East Africa, where smallholders manage the majority of farmland, this kind of ecological balance isn’t just good for bees - it’s good for the future of farming.

In a region where farmers are on the frontlines of both climate change and food insecurity, bees offer a blueprint for how we can restore broken systems – not through exploitation, but through regeneration.

By supporting agroecological farming, protecting pollinator habitats, and ending the use of harmful chemicals, we can create a food system where bees and farmers thrive together.

• Support farmer-led organisations promoting biodiversity and beekeeping

• Advocate for a ban on bee-harming pesticides in your region

• Sprinkle wildflower seeds to help bees find nutrition

• Purchase a Brilliant Beehive charity gift to support smallholder farmers in East Africa and promote beekeeping as a solution