Bees for Development Journal 115: June 2015
Conwy Honey Fair 14 September 2015, North Wales Further details www.conwybeekeepers.org.uk National Honey Show 29-31 October 2015, Weybridge Further details www.honeyshow.co.uk ZIMBABWE 1st International Conference African Honeybee Research and Indigenous Knowledge Systems 28-29 July 2015, Ezekiel Guti University Further details honeybeeconference@gmail.com
LEARN AHEAD IRELAND FIBKA Beekeeping Summer Course 26-31 July 2015, Gormanston Further details www.irishbeekeeping.ie UK Strengthening livelihoods in developing countries through beekeeping 21 August 2015, Monmouth Sustainable beekeeping 22-23 August 2015 Ragman’s Lane Permaculture Farm See www.beesfordevelopment. org/what-we-do/training If you want notice of your conference, workshop or meeting to be included here and on our website send details to Bees for Development, address on page 2
BfD Beekeepers Safaris Vietnam 9-22 November 2015 Trinidad and Tobago 11-21 January 2016 Turkey 23 July – 4 August 2016 More information www.beesfordevelopment.org/ what-we-do/beekeeping-safaris
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NEWS AROUND THE WORLD BERMUDA
Two hurricanes in October 2014 destroyed most of the nectar producing plants during a major nectar flow period. This meant that 2014 was a poor year for honey production, according to Jean Atherden, Minister of Health, Seniors & Environment. Production had an estimated value of US$43,000 (€38,500), less than half that of 2013’s (also disappointing) harvest. Source: www.bernews.com/2015/03/honey-bees
COMOROS
We invite all beekeepers on the island of Grand Comore to gather for a Workshop in August 2015, to share knowledge and experience, thus building capacity around the island. There is limited technical information available in Comoros about apiculture, and farmers are eager to learn as much as possible. Beekeepers in thirteen villages around the Karthala Volcano started keeping bees in top-bar hives four years ago with the support of the United Nations Development Program. The beekeepers have made their own veils, smokers, and wooden hives. They would like to learn also how beekeepers around the world manage bees, build equipment, process honey, and market their bees’ produce. Ellen Geisler, Peace Corps Volunteer [Workshop participants will receive materials from a Resource Box supplied by BfD Trust. Find out how to apply on page 20]
ETHIOPIA
In sub-Saharan Africa more bee colonies exist than in the rest of the original distribution area of Apis mellifera in Asia and Europe. This figure is related not only to the extensive diversity of flowering plants, shrubs and trees of tropical and subtropical Africa, but also to the abundance of insects in the sub-order Homoptera. Many of these insects, including aphids, soft scales, and mealybugs feed on plants and excrete large quantities of sap which they cannot use: this is known as honeydew. Honeydew can be so abundant that leaves, twigs, branches and even the ground below the plant are covered in a glistening layer. The honeydew is often sweet enough to attract honey bees which gather the drops either from the plants or directly from the insects themselves. They process the honeydew like nectar into honeydew honey or use it to feed brood. Many ants are also attracted to this sweet foodstuff. Ethiopian beekeepers have repeatedly reported that maize and sorghum are important crops for honey production, but do not produce nectar. Farmers have described a sticky, sweet substance on grasses and legumes in the presence of sap-sucking insects. This would indicate that the proportion of honeydew in many honeys must be quite high. In addition, intense honey bee foraging on these plants has been reported by experienced beekeepers when flowering species are scarce. These observations explain why bee colonies are able to survive during long dry periods when flowers are almost absent. There are many families and species of the sub-order Homoptera found throughout the country, some are already known elsewhere as prolific honeydew producers. To what extent the numerous different aphids, mealybugs, psyllids and scale insects present in Ethiopia contribute to mixed honeys is not studied yet. Reinhard Fichtl, Regensburg, Germany 14
Many of these insects feed on plant sap. The large quantities of sap excreted by aphids, soft scales, and mealybugs is known as honeydew
PHOTO © REINHARD FICHTL
Look Ahead continued
