News

CHINA

Kirin Province lies in the north-east of China and is one of its key apicultural bases. Non- Polluted, high quality products from rich, wild bee pasture, in the district of the Changai Mountains, are well known both at home and abroad. Kirin Province has the name of The home of the honeybee’. There are 400- 500 natural bee plants in the district which loom from April to August forming a long honey flow period. During this time 500 000 - 600000 colonies of honeybees are Moved into the mountains. On average, honey output is 10000 tonnes, royal jelly 40 tonnes, pollen 600 tonnes and bee pupae 500 tonnes per annum. The bee products of the Changbai Mountains are not polluted by industry, fertilisers and pesticides, and are from medicinal wild plants. They are especially nutritious, high in quality and a natural food source.

The Bee Product Factory in Kirin Province Apicultural Science Research Institute is located on the shore of Feng-Mian Sang Hua Lake. In order to take advantage of the nonpolluted products provided by the Changbai Mountains the Institute has developed high quality, new specialities which are nutritionally rich with a higher amino acid and vitamin content than similar products from elsewhere. These foods provide tonic effects, and are high-grade nutrition with a local character.

(Wang Xun-biao, Kirin Beekeeping Scientific Research Institute, Fengman Street, Kirin City, Kirin Province, China)

COSTA RICA

Roxana Cordero Quiroz checking one of her bee colonies while her brother Berny works the smoker. In 1979 Roxana used a loan of US$100 to purchase a Pair of movable-frame hives and bees. The first harvest from those two colonies allowed repayment of the first loan instalment and the purchase of a smoker, and Roxana has continued to expand her beekeeping enterprise. The loan was made available from IDB credit of US$500 000 given to Fundacion Nacional de Clubes 4-S, a project designed to meet the need for credit of low income youth in Costa Rica.

HONDURAS

The Peace Corps Small Projects Assistance Programme provided funding to purchase equipment needed to bottle and store honey as a means of helping establish a honey cooperative.

LESOTHO

The species of honeybee found here is Apismellifera adansonii. Most of the indigenous flowering plants that used to sustain wild bees have been indiscriminately destroyed so much that few honey sources worth speaking of remain. Besides, wooded plantations all over the country consist mostly of minor sources because they were planted for wood production and not honey. However where suitable species of reliable, hardy and frost resistant Eucalyptus have been planted bees do very well for ten months of the year.

Here at Tefobale Bee Research we practise low cost, low-technology modern beekeeping to produce choice grade cut comb honey using hives with double brood chambers and single modified supers.

We planted three useful! sources of honey namely Eucalyptus sideroxylon, Eucalyptus melliodora, Eucalyptus camaldulensis, an Acacia species and an apple orchard to be pollinated by these bees. E. sideroxylon flowers at its best from April to September and supplies one or two honey crops of 10 kg per super per hive. In August Acacia flowers and provides enough pollen for colonies to keep up to strength after surviving cold, dry winters. From September to December E. melliodora known for its high yield of nectar blooms profusely. This honey flow is increased during October by a rather short flowering of apple trees. They together supply two to three honey crops of the same 10 kg per super per colony. Before the end of October this flow is further increased by E. camaldulensis flowering at its peak from October also yielding a further 10 kg honey crop. Out of a total of five or six honey crops 50- 60 kg per colony a year is quite common here. In February and March colonies then build up with abundant maize pollen collected in the cultivated areas around this small pilot project.

As regards behaviour A. adansonii is aggressive, excitable and sensitive to external interference. Up to now we have encountered no problems with predators or diseases, perhaps because of our virgin environment.

Basotho have no traditional beekeeping customs but they hunt wild colonies for honey to use as a food and cure for minor ailments and coughs.

At market honey is in great demand because of the changing eating habits of Basotho and it sells very well indeed. One kilogram of choice grade cut comb honey sells easily for R5.00 (£2.10 sterling).

Unfortunately the pollinatory activity of bees is not yet generally understood, otherwise a beekeeping project could have been launched long before now, to introduce bee pollination into the intensive food production programmes now in progress. Happy, Modern Beekeeping!

(T Mahalefele, Tefobale Bee Research, Lesotho)

MEXICO

Organismo Internacional Regional de Sanidad Agropecuaria (OIRSA) is implementing a programme on Management and control of the Africanized bee, financially supported by the Interamerican Development Bank. As part of this programme 21 technicians from seven Central American countries attended a course on bee pathology taught by Dr D De- Jong, sponsored by OIRSA and held in March in Cuerneraca, Mexico. Another objective of the programme is to provide each country in the OIRSA region with a small, basic bee library.

MOZAMBIQUE

The Beekeeping Programme have recently produced a series of nine wall charts depicting bees and beekeeping in Mozambique. The charts are being used for publicity and training and include the following subjects: a swarm of bees; queen, worker and drone honeybees; a queen bee surrounded by her attendants; a worker bee sucking nectar from a flower; a broodcomb; a traditional. The set of charts is available for £5 sterling from Programa Nacional de Apicultura, Mozambique.

PHILIPPINES

Raul G Barrameda of the Bicolandia Bee Raisers Association describes the effect of the typhoon SISANG on beekeeping in the Philippines:

Before November 1987 - The beekeeping promotion operation was very successful. As a result we were able to establish mini- research apiaries in three provinces. Public interest was aroused which resulted in successful training programmes in rural areas. Self-financed beekeeping activities were moving forward in the depressed areas. Private institutions and the government were becoming aware of beekeeping in different parts of the region. Information material we received from [BRA played an important part in these promotional activities.

During November 1987 - The bountiful results of the operation were buried due to the strong typhoon named SISANG. Our region was at the centre of its attack with winds of up to 275 km/hr.

After November 1987 - Damage to crops, houses and buildings is rated at 80 to 90%, but as far as the beekeeping industry is concerned destruction reached 100%. Our three mini apiaries and shelters were totally destroyed. Only a small percentage of the beekeeping projects can be restarted as the Government does not have enough funds to support needy typhoon victims.

Expectation - Recovery from the damage is expected to take three to four years, especially the coconut trees on which many livelihoods depended. Beekeeping is expected to recover if production assistance programmes are introduced, but this will take at least two years.

(Raul G Barrameda)

PUERTO RICO

The Beekeeping Association (Asociacion de Apicultores de Puerto Rico) has a membership of 350. Currently the Government pays a subsidy of 50% on all equipment and supplies used for beekeeping, except the cost of bees. The fund available is US$100 000 per year but few people are taking advantage of it.

One local problem is the lack of printed materials on beekeeping in the Spanish language. Recently the Department of Public Education has sponsored adult beekeeping training.

The main honey producing area is in the central region where coffee is cropped. However honey production is not sufficient to cope with local demand.

Competition arises from foreign honey imported from Dominican Republic and the USA. Due to differences in agricultural costs in each of these nations, honey from the USA is most expensive and honey from Dominican Republic sells at a lower price than locally produced honey.

(Lewis Manuel Medina)

SRI LANKA

Beekeeping in the Mahaweli Project

The river Mahaweli Ganga in Sri Lanka is 330 km long draining more than 16% of the island's total land area and carrying over 20% of the total run-off of all the island’s rivers.

A large-scale project, called the Mahaweli Development Programme, is underway for harnessing the river for the dual objectives of producing hydroelectricity and the irrigation of a total of 364 500 hectares. The environmental aspects of this undertaking are monitored by the Technical Sub-Committee on the Environment (TSCE) of the Mahaweli Authority of Sri Lanka (MASL).

The Sri Lanka Bee Farmers’ Association drew the attention of the TSCE to the desirability of encouraging beekeeping by the settlers of the developing agricultural areas. It noted that, among other benefits, beekeeping could provide additional sources of food (and wax) from these lands as well as benefitting insect-pollinated crops. Production of hives (at US$5 each) and other accessories could also create employment opportunities. Benefits at the national level could include the saving of foreign exchange since the available locally produced honey is insufficient to meet demand, particularly for the preparation of traditional (ayurvedic) medicines. Pressures on the forested areas of the island are rapidly leading to non-availability of surplus “jungle honey”.

MASL accepted this suggestion and has commenced a beekeeping popularisation project at Nochiyagama, a village in the Mahaweli System H area in the north- west of the country. Around 120 colonies of bees were established in settlers’ home gardens and co-ordination was provided by the Agricultural Officer, Ranjan Attygalle.

Only indigenous Apis cerana are used; importation of Apis meilifera honeybees into Sri Lanka is not permitted in order to minimise the possibility of the introduction of disease or undesirable bees. The main problem experienced in the initial stages was mortality of bees due to the incorrect use of pesticides. This has been considerably overcome following the reduction by settlers of the use of pesticides in their home gardens. Initial problems with wax moth have also diminished following training in hive management.

The interest and enthusiasm of the settlers for this activity has been encouraging and it is hoped to extend beekeeping programmes to other Mahaweli areas in stages.

(Sri Lanka Bee Farmers’ Association, Sri Lanka)

SWAZILAND

Traditional beekeeping is not common in Swaziland although honey hunting is widely Practised by men and boys. The honey is usually kept by the honey hunter for home use either as food or as medicine. Little honey is sold on the market because it is highly prized and is usually in short supply. With this as a starting point a beekeeping Programme is working to convert honey hunters into beekeepers and because beekeeping does not require a lot of time or resources, rural women are also being helped by the project. In Swaziland men are often away from home working in mines, so getting women involved is doubly important.

The beekeeping education and extension Project team work within the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. Initially they faced a number of problems common to all beekeeping development projects. The project itself had severe shortages of funds and transport, a widely dispersed target population and extreme difficulties in getting Materials to build beehives and other equipment. The target populations suffered from lack of capital, lack of beekeeping knowledge and lack of a market for the honey Produced. The first group of farmers to be helped received a grant to get started but the project team realised that this form of development was not sustainable because (1) People would believe that finance is essential to start beekeeping; (2) farmers (and the Project) would become dependent on out- Side assistance and (3) continual grant giving would require funds that are not available. For this reason the team decided to develop a bee education programme, designed to enable the farmer to start beekeeping no matter what the available resources. The team also decided that a marketing scheme would be necessary, at least at the beginning of the project to educate farmers and consumers about high quality local honey. In essence, the project team believe that the best way to motivate farmers is to demonstrate that beekeeping is economic under local economic conditions rather than to provide artificial, short-term incentives.

(Bee School, Lutheran Farmers’ Training Centre, Swaziland)

URUGUAY

In March 1988 the Society of Beekeepers in Uruguay organised their 1st National Update Course on Beeswax. The course was intended to provide participants with current knowledge on the best ways of handling beeswax and the use of practical and simple techniques to identify beeswax contamination. The course also discussed the standards of beeswax demanded by national and international markets. For information on future events organised by the Society contact: Sociedad Apicola Uruguaya, Avenida

Uruguay 864, Montevideo, Uruguay.

Stamps featuring honeybees

Postage stamps showing honeybees can be a useful way of promoting interest in beekeeping. Shown here are a set of four honeybee postage stamps issued in Mali and a honeybee stamp from Vietnam, which formed part of a series of stamps featuring insects. These stamps were kindly sent (from Mali) by Miriam Peterson and (from Vietnam) by Vincent Mulder.

* Please see the original journal article to see some pictures of these stamps

BEEKEEPING EXPERT NEEDED - NORTH YEMEN

CIIR, a London based development agency, is seeking to recruit an experienced beekeeper to develop a beekeeping project amongst rural communities. The project is part of larger development scheme in North Yemen's central highland region, funded internationally and nationally, designed to increase agricultural productivity.

The beekeeper will encourage small hold farmers and other rural people to participate in the beekeeping project and organise beekeeping extension messages for them, eg how to divide colony, hive a swarm, inspect a colony, harvest honey and beeswax, uses of beeswax. She/he will also train local counterpart in the theoretical and practical skills of beekeeping.

Applicants should have qualification in beekeeping and honey production and minimum of two years experience. Applicants without a qualification but with considerable experience are welcomed.

CIIR provides two year contract, a salary adequate for single person, housing, a return flight, insurance, various allowances, extensive briefings, language training,

Overseas Programme, London.