Bees for Development Journal 105
in the middle and he carefully avoids damaging the brood during harvest. The far end (near the bees’ entrance) is inaccessible and any honey stored there is left for the bees. Mr Bayligne makes these hives himself and sometimes sells them empty for 50 birr (US$3; €2), or with bees for 600 birr (US$33; €25). Mr Bayligne is not the only urban beekeeper in Bahir Dar. Mr Tilahun Gebey, Director of Bees for Development Ethiopia, recently harvested 42 kg of honey from his top-bar hive. He believes bees in towns benefit from the Eucalyptus trees and ornamental bushes. Mr Gebey explained: “One kg of honeycomb can fetch 70 birr (US$4; €3) and the advantage of beekeeping in town is that the customer is right on the doorstep”. Mr Kerealem Ejigu (Apiculture Centre Manager of Andassa Livestock Research Centre in Bahir Dar) said: “Environmental degradation and agricultural pollution in rural Ethiopia is severe. It is surprising but true that for many bee colonies the urban environment is more conducive than some rural areas”.
This beautiful honeycomb was harvested from Andassa Livestock Research Centre in Bahir Dar city worker. He bought a frame hive cheaply from another beekeeper (who had been given the hive) and earlier this year transferred the colony to the frame hive. However, Mr Bayligne does not have a honey extractor and chose instead to sell the frame hive complete with the bee colony for 900 birr (US$50; €38).
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/celebrity-beekeeperstold-to-buzz-off-7854420.html 1
The urban beekeeper - a year of bees in the city by Steve Benbow - available from the BfD webstore. 2
The local style hives (see page 12) are inside Mr Bayligne’s field shelter. To harvest honey he removes the covers from the inside ends and takes out the honeycombs. The brood nest tends to be
Keeping bees in towns and cities by Luke Dixon reviewed in Bookshelf page 16
CLEARER RULES ON POLLEN IN HONEY
RECENT RESEARCH Honey bees bite! Researchers have discovered that honey bees can bite as well as sting and that the bite contains a natural anaesthetic. The surprise findings discovered by a team of researchers from French and Greek organisations, in collaboration with Vita (Europe) Ltd, will cause a re-think of honey bee defence mechanisms and could lead to the production of a natural, low toxicity local anaesthetic for humans and animals. The natural anaesthetic discovered in the bite of the honey bee - measured at the University of Athens - is 2-heptanone (2-H), a natural compound found in many foods and also secreted by certain insects, but never before understood to have anaesthetic properties. Independent tests have verified Vita’s findings and the potential of 2-heptanone as a local anaesthetic. As a naturally occurring substance with a lower toxicity than conventional anaesthetics, 2-heptanone shows great potential. Until recently, research seemed to indicate that 2-heptanone was either a honey bee alarm pheromone that triggers defensive response, or a chemical marker signalling to other foraging bees that a flower had been already visited. The new research shows clearly that 2-heptanone paralyses small insects and mites bitten by bees for up to nine minutes. Somewhat like a snake, the honey bee uses its mandibles to bite its enemy and then secretes 2-heptanone into the wound to anaesthetise it. This enables the honey bee to eject the enemy from the hive and is a particularly effective defence against pests, such as wax moth larvae and Varroa mites, which are too small to sting. Source: Vita-Europe.com The research is published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047432
A proposal to amend rules on honey to clarify the true nature of pollen following the European Court of Justice preliminary ruling was adopted on 21 September 2012 by the European Commission (EC). In line with international World Trade Organization standards, the proposal defines pollen as a natural constituent of honey and not as an ingredient. The Court of Justice based its interpretation on the honey directive dating back to 2001 and qualified pollen as an ingredient in honey arguing that the pollen is found in honey mainly due to intervention by the beekeeper. However, the Commission proposal recognises that pollen is a natural constituent and not an ingredient of honey; it enters into the hive as a result of the activity of the bees and is found in honey regardless of whether the beekeeper intervenes. Consequently, since pollen is considered as a natural constituent of honey, EU labelling rules requiring a list of ingredients would not apply. The Commission’s proposal will not affect the conclusion of the Court as regards the application of the GMO legislation to GM pollen in food. In particular it does not alter the Court’s conclusion that honey containing GM pollen can be placed on the market only if it is covered by an authorisation under the legislation. Furthermore, the labelling rules on GMO in food will also be applicable. The proposal also aims to align the existing Commission implementing powers in the Honey Directive 2001/110/EC with those introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. Source: http://europa.eu/rapid (search for reference IP/12/992) Further reading Markets & Trade at www.beesfordevelopment.org/portal 13
