Recent Research

Stingless bees help low-income communities

Brazilian researchers published an article in the April edition of the journal Plos One, concerning how indigenous bees, such as stingless bees, can help low-income communities to earn additional revenues, reduce the need to exploit other natural resources, and create incentives to protect the environment. Stingless bee keeping helps protect many indigenous bees along with their pollination services, which assure crop yields and help to maintain plant biodiversity in many natural ecosystems.

In Brazil and across developing countries, stingless beekeeping remains an informal activity, with a range of different management practices. Stingless beekeeping could help protect the bees, safeguard their pollination services, and contribute to the development of rural communities. This work provides guidelines to optimise the activity, make it more attractive to new entrepreneurs, and increase its value as a tool for sustainable development.

One of the stingless bee beekeepers of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, interviewed by the researchers. Colonies of the Jandaira stingless bee Melipona subnitida can be seen hanging below the roof

PHOTO © RODOLFO JAFFÉ

For more information see

Jaffé,R.; Pope,N.; Carvalho,A.T.; Maia,U.M.; Blochtein,B.; Carvalho, C.A.L.; Carvalho-Zilse,G.A.; Freitas,B.M.; Menezes,C.; Ribeiro,M.F.; Venturieri,G.C.;

Imperatriz-Fonseca,V.L. (2015) Bees for development: Brazilian survey reveals how to optimize stingless beekeeping. PLoS ONE 10(3): e0121157. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0121157