News around the World

AFGHANISTAN

The good news is that beekeeping nowadays is getting more attention and many aid organisations are promoting beekeeping by providing equipment and training courses, and women are beekeeping within the walls of their homesteads.

Most of the honey is not processed but exported as raw honey to Pakistan due to a lack of processing and packaging organisations in Afghanistan. The honey is then processed, labelled as from Pakistan, and re-exported at a higher cost back to Afghanistan.

In Afghanistan the bee population is declining due to factors including habitat loss, negative impacts of pesticides and herbicides, and 34 years of devastating war.

Unfortunately most projects in the past have focused only on honey production, neglecting the more important role of bees in pollination. As a result farmers are usually unaware of the role of bees for crop and fruit tree pollination, and for maintaining the ecosystem.

Farmers grow many crops including almonds, grapes and pomegranates, with significant quantities of apricots and figs in their orchards. Bees are vital for crops such as almonds which require cross-pollination, and honey bees significantly increase yields of apricots, figs and pomegranates.

The Asian honey bee Apis cerana is kept by Afghan beekeepers. The species is found throughout Asia and across a diverse range of climatic zones including as far north as Siberia.

Apis cerana is relatively tolerant of pests and diseases including mites and wasps and sustains itself when orchard crops are not blooming by foraging in the surrounding area on other flowering plants. The bee is known for its ability to survive and thrive in harsh, marginal conditions and at low temperatures; it can also colonise temperate or mountain areas with prolonged winters or cold temperatures up to altitudes of 3,500 m.

Varroa mite is endemic to the region and co-evolved with the Asian honey bee which has developed biology and behaviour that controls the level of infestation. The growth of Varroa populations is restricted to the time when drone brood is present since the Varroa mite cannot reproduce in worker brood of Apis cerana.

Reinhard Fichtl on behalf of Terre des Hommes

In the bee yard

PHOTO © TERRE DES HOMMES

FIJI

In November 2013 honey production to date was valued at FJ$ 935,000 (US$ 500,000; €365,000). Agriculture Ministry’s National Co-ordinator for the Honey Industry, Kamal Prasad said: “Beekeepers have harvested 93.5 tonnes of honey and expect more as the peak season approaches. Out of 487 farmers, 250 are in the north and they are the main contributors to the honey industry. We expect to produce 200 tonnes of honey this year, although we still fall short of our maximum production estimate of 300 tonnes.”

Mr Prasad said many factors affect honey production, first in line is the weather.

Source Fijitimes.com

JAMAICA

The European Union (EU) has allocated JMD 1.2 million (US$ 500,000; €365,000) in grant funds for the ‘Step Up 2013 Sweet Paradise Expansion’ project now under way in Greater Brown’s Town community in the Corporate Area. The project is training 16 youths in beekeeping. It is undertaken with the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Apiary Division with the money channelled through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF). The purpose of the project is to expand beekeeping and honey production in the area to a commercially viable level, and provide a source of income for community members. The most obvious benefit of the project is self-reliance through beekeeping, but it also aims to unify the Greater Brown’s Town community through teamwork. Loy Malcolm, JSIF’s general manager said the project is part of efforts to create more jobs: “For Jamaica’s economy to be prosperous, job creation is key while providing our people with income-generating skills, and empowering Jamaicans to help themselves.”

The project is in its second phase, with eight female and eight male participants all from the Greater Brown’s Town, with focus on expansion of the apiaries. Veda Fagan, Secretary of the Greater Brown’s Town Community Development Benevolent Society said “If all the beekeepers in Jamaica united to fill one export order of honey to a country like Jordan, we still would not have enough, so there is certainly a demand for honey.” According to Fagan, the industry has endless potential and the ultimate goal of the project is export: “The decision lies in whether to focus on the Jamaican diaspora or other markets.”

Source: www.jamaica-gleaner.com

LATVIA

Vilis Matulis is 44 years old and lives near the village of Ludza in eastern Latvia. Vilis has been in a wheelchair since a motorbike accident when he was 19. With friends he was successful in obtaining a TeleFood Special Fund grant from FAO. His annual honey harvest is over 1,000 kg which he sells for 2.5 lati (US$5; €3.7) a kilo. The extra money from beekeeping helps Vilis with increases in the cost of living: Latvia joined the EU recently and merchants used that as an excuse to raise fuel prices.

Source: www.fao.org/getinvolved/telefood/telefood-projects

See Notice Board page 18 for more information

MEXICO

The Sierra Norte de Puebla is a mountain chain in the north of Puebla State. The indigenous Náhuat and Totonaca people have developed a system called koujatkiloyan, or “productive forest,” that sustainably takes advantage of the region’s biodiversity. Food is harvested from the forest, which is protected instead of being chopped down. The forest offers a mosaic of diversity in which wild species are found alongside cultivated species, following the traditional way of management of natural resources. Farmers make their living by cultivating cinnamon, coffee, macadamia nuts, pepper and vanilla and gathering wild fruits. Within this system, Scaptotrigona mexicana plays a fundamental role as a pollinator and provider of a flavoursome honey, which according to Náhuat tradition also has medicinal properties.

Locally known as pisilnekmej, the bee is one of 46 species of Melipona (stingless bees) known in Mexico, and is endemic to the Sierra Norte. In other parts of the country, the endemic bees have been replaced by African bees, however in the Sierra Norte the bees have been protected and breed in traditional mancuernas: these hives are made up of two terracotta pots, sealed with a damp ash mixture. Honey is collected from April to June, on sunny days during the full-moon period. The producers separate the two pots using a machete, select the combs and extract the honey, then separate the hive’s other products (pollen, propolis and wax). They then reseal the mancuerna. The collected honey is left to ferment for a few months, before use as a food and medicine.

Unfortunately this wonderful habitat is threatened by developers: sign the petition at http://www.redtdt.org.mx/d_acciones/d_visual. php?id_accion=253

Slow Food Foundation

NIGERIA

Our trainer for two weeks was Akande Ayoade and we were Becoming Enterprisingly Employed (BEE). We therefore saw that beekeeping has not yet been fully exploited. It is a good avenue to reduce the high rate of unemployment among young people and a means to increase our income and improve our livelihoods. During the training I reached the following conclusions:

• Good positioning of hives is important for the bees and for a good harvest.

• It is possible to harvest up to 25 litres of honey from one colony.

• Never harvest without a smoker.

• Dress sensibly before harvesting.

• Cover your hives well before leaving.

Participants of the training “Becoming Enterprisingly Employed”

PHOTO © IDOWU ATOLOYE

Idowu Atoloye, Jorafarm and Associates, Osun State

RWANDA

Apiculture helps communities living around Ruhande Arboretum Forest and Ibisi bya Huye Forest in Huye District in the southern province of Rwanda.

Training underway

PHOTOS © VINCENT HAKIZIMANA

Ruhande Arboretum Forest and Ibisi bya Huye Forest’s bees are important for pollination of cultivated and wild plants. Most beekeepers in Huye District gather honey from the bees found nesting on trees, rocks and in the ground. Local honey is highly valued as a food and for many people it has high medicinal value in treating colds and chest pains, and in promoting vigorous healing of burns and wounds. We are working to establish Huye Apiculture Training and Resource Centre (Huye ATRC) to help with the following:

• Improving Ruhande and Ibisi bya Huye honey in both quantity and quality

• Providing jobs for post-school youths in Huye District

• Training in beekeeping - methods and management

• Increasing production of other bee products - beeswax, propolis, pollen

• Increasing the knowledge of Ruhande and Ibisi bya Huye communities in biodiversity and conservation

• Establishing a beekeeping organisation for the associations and co-operatives

• Encouraging successful businesses in honey and other bee products

• Promoting beekeeping as a revenue generating activity in Ruhande Arboretum Forest and Ibisi bya Huye

Support to help us establish Huye ATRC would be most welcome. Contact via Bees for Development

Vincent Hakizimana, WCS Rwanda Programme, Kigali

Vincent Hakizimana with an impressive display of honey

TANZANIA

The Beekeeping Training Institute in Tabora has many different types of apiaries. This ‘bee cage’ apiary is for demonstration purposes where the hives are placed on chest height platforms inside the specially built cage.

Asterico Lameck, Beekeeping Training Institute, Tabora

PHOTOS © ASTERICO LAMECK

[note from Editor: this cage is necessary for hives being kept at ground level – to protect them from honey badgers, to some extent from ants and other predators, as well as human thieves.]