ABOUT APICONSULT
Welcome to Apiconsult.com! The apiconsult website is dedicated to promoting beekeeping everywhere as a means to generate sustainable livelihoods and beat poverty. Beekeeping is also a wonderful window onto the natural world and a fantastic hobby depending on your objectives and circumstances.
The idea underpinning the website is the need to share information based on practical experience. I worked for many years promoting beekeeping in Eastern Africa. I learned that what works in developed countries using European bee races will not work in the African context with African bees (I know as I currently keep bees both in Europe and Africa!). There is therefore a need to build a database of good practice relating to beekeeping in Africa. The Apiconsult website was started in the year 2000 with this aim in mind. Since then the website has expanded in scope. I just want to help beekeepers wherever they are and local knowledge is key. These days I am mostly based in Ireland and interact with beekeepers worldwide through my online courses. I teach beginners how to start in beekeeping through my bestselling online courses. I have also developed a course on beeswax candle making which will launch on June 16th 2022.
My own experience and expertise initially focused on the challenges of African beekeeping. Personally, I have worked on African beekeeping development since 1993 and am former Head of Beekeeping with Baraka Agricultural College in Molo, Kenya. I was based in Kenya from 1993 to 2008 when I moved back to my home country, Ireland. I still travel back to Africa on a regular basis for beekeeping related activities. I continue to keep my bees on our 5 acre shamba (farm) in Nakuru (about 170Kms west of Nairobi). I completed my PhD studies with University College Dublin in 2012 on beekeeping and livelihoods in Kenya. In 2015 I restarted my beekeeping in Ireland and currently keep bees on two continents which gives me an opportunity to compare and contrast the different approaches to beekeeping which are needed.
You are invited to share ideas or questions you might have about beekeeping. Please use the social media links at the bottom of the page. If you would like to support my efforts to promote better approaches to beekeeping in Africa – a little encouragement would really help! Please see link on this page.
Thank you.
Tom
PS Beekeeping Resources:
I have a variety of videos on YouTube from Ireland and Africa
Check out my Online Beekeeping Courses on Udemy. Here is a link to my latest course (Launched 2021).
Click here to get a copy of my free book – The No Nonsense Guide to Beekeeping in Ireland
POD- Beekeeping in Africa
Assist Apiconsult Provide More Resources to African Beekeepers
- Please enjoy the web site and I welcome your feedback and suggestions. If you enjoy this site and like what Apiconsult is doing then please help to expand this site and make more resources available to African beekeepers.
- Donations will be used to pay web related costs and expand materials available for free download from the site. Please use the button below. Thank you!
- Information sharing and knowledge is the key to beekeeping development in Africa. More and more African beekeepers are able to access information online (and through intermediary organisations) as internet connections become better and computers become more ubiquitous across Africa. Therefore the opportunity to reach smallholder farmers and empower them with appropriate knowledge via the internet is growing year by year. Apiconsult is also on facebook – click here Read a research paper I co-wrote on African beekeeping published May 2013 in peer reviewed journal Development in Practice – click here
Apiconsult Philosophy:
- We respect and build on local people’s existing traditional beekeeping systems and indigenous technical knowledge.
- We promote sustainable systems of beekeeping based on locally available resources where appropriate. For example top bar hives made cheaply from materials available in the local environment.
- We focus on bee product production to fill local market opportunities first.
- Where sufficient beekeeping potential exists we facilitate export market development.
- We encourage value adding to bee products for local and export markets.
- We encourage beekeeping knowledge building through the process of participatory action research.
- We believe African beekeeping knowledge should be shared for all involved to learn and improve their beekeeping practices.
Apiconsult Services:
- Apiconsult provides expert advice and training on all aspects of beekeeping in Africa. Click here for more details on services provided.
- Documentation and sharing of information related to best practice on African beekeeping.
- Click here to find out more about Apiconsult services.
About me
- Tom Carroll, PhD
- Webmaster Apiconsult, September 2021.
Information sharing and knowledge is the key to beekeeping development in Africa. More and more African beekeepers are able to access information online (and through intermediary organisations) as internet connections become better and computers become more ubiquitous across Africa. Therefore the opportunity to reach smallholder farmers and empower them with appropriate knowledge via the internet is growing year by year. Apiconsult is also on social media – see links to Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
Read a research paper I co-wrote on African beekeeping published May 2013 in peer reviewed journal Development in Practice – click here
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& welcome to follow me on Twitter:
