Bees are among the most important creatures on the planet. They play a critical role in food production and improving biodiversity by pollinating thousands of cultivated and wild plants.

But according to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), there has been a global decline in bee populations. The FAO says this poses a serious threat to a wide variety of plants critical to human well-being and livelihoods.

Bee expert and lecturer at Kenya's Egerton University, Joel Masibo there are various factors that have contributed to the current situation.

"Globally, there has been a decline in beekeeping resulting from various factors, among them are issues to do with the collapse of bee colonies. Some of the reasons causing that are the use of pesticides, poor agricultural practices, and reduced habitats because bees thrive on flowers."

Pesticides have been used for ages to combat disease and pests affecting crops. But some of the pesticides are counter-productive especially to the bee populations.

"The World Health Organization has classified particular pesticides and some of them that are classified to be harmful to the bees are no longer being used in the developed countries. That is not the case in Kenya, case in point is when we had locust invasion, the government went ahead to do aerial spraying in the name of killing locusts, but by extension that had to also kill the bees." Masibo says.

Urbanization has also cleared most bushes and forests which are conducive for bee colonies. This has led to the fragmentation of natural flowering habitats, and this has subsequently seen bees swarm looking for other spaces to inhabit.

The FAO on its part adds that higher temperatures associated with climate change are also having a negative impact on bee populations. If this trend continues, the organization predicts fruits, nuts, and many vegetables that depend on bees for pollination will be substituted increasingly by staple crops like rice, corn, and potatoes, eventually resulting in an imbalanced diet.

Mr. Masibo says technology could be used to give the bees an assist in restoring their numbers.

"At Egerton University, we're trying to come up with technology where we can do the queen bee multiplication as fast as possible to help us get the young queen. A good queen should give us between 1500-2000 eggs daily. But as it ages, because it has a life expectancy of five years, her capacity to lay eggs reduces."

Here he says they will employ gene modification practices to be able to get more queen bees and which are healthier and can then lay more eggs their lifetime as compared to the natural queen bees.

Another technology involves sensors, including microphones and cameras that can detect invasive predators and collect data from the bees and hives. One of the key determinants of a hive's health is the sounds it produces. Critical to the data-gathering efforts is to listen to the hives to determine colony health, strength, and behavior as well as collect temperature, humidity, apiary weather conditions, and hive weight. The sound and vision sensors can also detect hornets, which can be a threat to bee populations.

Traditionally, beekeepers have been able to trap and attract swarms of bees by using the strategic placement of beehives. But experts say that this method is not productive as bees swarm when the queen is aged. This means that by trapping such swarms with old queen bee you get an unproductive colony.

Masibo says that beekeeping stakeholders should come up with bee bulking centers where farmers can be able to access colonies that can then help them increase the numbers of bees they have. It is significant to note that worker bees only live for two months.

Pius Chesire is a bee farmer in Kenya's Baringo county. Together with other stakeholders, they started their project in 2016. They now have 20 beehives on their farm. He says the greatest challenge they are facing in beekeeping is especially during drought. This is the time trees are no longer having enough flowers and the water dries up which is essential in honey production.

He however adds that: "Beekeeping does not require much, as long as you have a place where the bees are not interfered with. Also, there should be flowers and water to help the bees to process the by-product."

In setting up an apiary, farmers should consider the fact that the apiary should be free from disturbances, noise and free from human beings and animals. It ought to be in a sheltered place protected from strong sun and wind.

Farmers use different ways to attract bees into empty hives. One of the ways is to use swarm nets which are fixed high up on the trees to trap bees. A catcher box with bees wax can also be used to attract bees.

Once the bees have occupied it, they can be moved to the main beehive. This is done by placing the main hive in a higher position with the catcher box connected with a sloping board as the bees usually move upward. Smoke can also be used to drive the bees into the hive.

Apart from being a bee expert, Mr. Masibo is also a beekeeper with 80 beehives on his apiary. This does not require a large chunk of land. He says modern beehives such as the Langstroth hive system can help the farmer to harvest from 10kgs to 20kgs of bees per hive.

Most of these hives cost approximately $50. These hives are fitted with a multi-layered structure and removable frames to encourage bees to build their hives in an orderly fashion and make it easy for beekeepers to harvest honey.

Beekeepers say the activity is not labor-intensive and does not require constant monitoring. Beekeepers can tend to other businesses while bees are processing honey on their own since harvesting is done once a year. In Kenya for instance 1kg of honey can fetch between $5-10 depending on the location and with the modern hives, this can translate to around $300 per hive.