Bees for prosperity

Monica Barlow, Bees for Development, 1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth NP25 3DZ, UK

Keywords: Apis cerana, Coorg Province, endemism, Honey Festival, India, UNESCO World Heritage Site

An International Honey Festival and Beekeeping Workshop was held in Madikeri (Coorg Province, Karnataka State, India) in November 2012. There were lectures, exhibitions, stalls, displays, and workshops demonstrating practical beekeeping techniques and bee products. Beekeepers, honey traders, farmers, scientists and teachers presented a comprehensive view of bees and beekeeping.

Coorg is famous for its honey, cardamom, coffee, oranges and pepper. The Province is in the Western Ghats, a prime hotspot for biodiversity, recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site 1 .

Indigenous Apis cerana honey bees are widespread: most farmers keep a few colonies for crop pollination and to collect some honey, and some have scaled up their activities to bottle and sell their own honey. Others sell to local associations such as the Coorg Progressive Beekeepers Co-operative Society, who train beekeepers also buy their honey to bottle and sell. Branded Coorg honey is tested and certified to meet government quality standards 2 .

Until the 1990s Coorg was one of the largest honey co-operatives in India. The honey’s unique flavours were renowned: derived from nectars and pollens collected by the bees from the diverse indigenous flora. The forest cover provides excellent forage, while agricultural crops offer seasonal food sources. Farmers have good knowledge of the local flora worked by bees and identify 80 species as good bee plants, with 20 – mostly trees or epiphytic creepers – as important for honey production 3 .

Two of the most important commercial crops in the region, cardamom and coffee, are cultivated in the shade of forest trees and both depend on bees for optimum pollination and fruit set 4 . However, honey bee populations are threatened by modern developments: a major problem is loss of tree cover, diversity and density. The forest is converted into monoculture plantations, and endemic shade trees are replaced by silver oak Grevillea robusta, fast growing but useless to bees. Other exotic plant species such as Lantana camara spread rapidly as weeds, reducing biodiversity. Pesticides are used which can kill bees and taint their honey. Not least, two decades ago Thai sacbrood virus decimated the local bee population and ruined many beekeeping businesses.

The honey room at Meddappagowda

Welcome to the Honey Festival!

PHOTOS © MONICA BARLOW

Enterprising beekeepers are now re-establishing Coorg as a major honey producing district. The recent Festival provided opportunities to discuss new ideas, sustainable beekeeping practices, value addition, and training for young people. Beekeeping was demonstrated to be an effective contribution to the livelihoods of small farmers, increasing crop yields through cross pollination, maintaining biodiversity, and providing useful income from honey 5 .

Honey for sale at this roadside shop

Apis cerana brood frame

Apiary in Meddappagowda

NOTES

1. MYERS, N. (2000) Biodiversity hotspots are biogeographic regions with significant levels of biodiversity under threat from humans. UNESCO World Heritage Centre List http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1342/

2. Visit to Coorg Progressive Beekeepers, Bhaga Mandala,November 2012

3. KUSHALAPPA,C. G. Native plants and sustainable honey production in Kodagu. Department of Forest Biology, College of Forestry, Ponnampet.

4. BELAVADI,V. V. Pollination of cardamom and coffee in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore.

5. The Conference was supported by the Agricultural Scientists Forum of Kodagu, the Karnataka Department of Agriculture, and the Karnataka State Agricultural Produce Processing and Export Corporation.