THE SEARCH FOR APPROPRIATE BEEKEEPING TECHNOLOGY There is a Swedish saying that if you sample 100 beekeepers you will find 100 inventors of beekeeping technology and as many different ways of managing honeybees. From an international viewpoint this saying is also very true when looking at traditional or self-taught beekeepers. Modern beekeeping systems use standardised methods and equipment. Such modern systems are often transferred regardless of the great variation in conditions for beekeeping in different countries or areas. In this article will discuss the consequences of the lack of appropriate technology that Tesult from careless technology transfer in tropical and subtropical beekeeping. |
Traditional beekeeping
Beekeeping in its real sense first develOped when honey hunters in different Parts of the world learnt to maintain Colonies of bees in fixed-comb hives.
Traditional beekeeping systems were very appropriate to the conditions where they developed. Generally speaking, traditional beekeeping systems can be characterised as follows: a) Traditional beekeepers use cheap, local materials (whatever is available) to produce their equipment. b) Traditional beekeepers are not used to making investments and use very few tools. c) Almost all traditional systems build on a concept of minimal management. The beekeepers prepare the hives and place them in a suitable locality where they are left without management until the time of honey harvest. d) With few exceptions honey is harvested only once a year, and very often the colony is destroyed or severely damaged in the process. The traditional beekeeper is normally found among the rural poor and has no formal education or capital resources. Beekeeping know-how has been transferred by word of mouth within the society or through individual trial and error experiments. f) The output per bee colony is very low, compared to the potential output in advanced beekeeping under the same conditions. The beekeeper sometimes compensates for this by using a greater number of traditional bee hives. Traditional beekeepers accept that their products may often be of low quality: consumption is usually local and immediate. Gg) Product prices are often very low except in societies where honey is held in high regard, for instance as a medicine.
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by B Svensson
Modem beekeeping
The Langstroth and Dadant standards totally dominate the world market, but some European standards (Russian, Zander, British Standard, German Normal-frame etc.) can also be found in very odd circumstances. Modern beekeeping systems can be characterised as follows:
a) Modern beekeeping builds on a large input of comparatively expensive and sophisticated equipment that is normally delivered from specialised producers. b) This equipment is designed for rational and mechanised production on a commercial scale, and large investments are therefore often required to set up an operation. c) Modern beekeepers can, and have to manage their colonies intensively throughout the season using movable-frame hives to strive for maximum productivity. d) Cars and other transport are often used to make use of different nectar flows (or pollination) and to prolong the season as much as possible. e) The beekeeper is often very well trained and has know-how ranging from bee botany and biology to mechanical engineering and business management. f) The modern beekeeper is striving for maximum output, highest productivity and optimum quality of products. g) Product prices are often comparatively high in modern beekeeping and
beekeepers sometimes involve themselves in the marketing of products during the off-season. Developing countries are still dependent on industrialised countries for technology transfer, and there is generally a pronounced desire amongst decision makers to look for high technology solutions to development problems. This desire coincides with the efforts from high technology producers to increase their export sales. Authorities in developed countries also support such efforts to increase exports. Modern beekeeping as described above is an example of such ‘high technology’. The indiscriminate spread of modern beekeeping technology to developing countries is helping to consolidate the dependence of poor countries on rich donors. It can also be said to hamper development towards a new economic world order and true independence for developing countries. Such beekeeping development must be inappropriate for its purpose. Many
examples can be listed where for instance comb foundation, Langstroth hives and centrifugal extractors have been imported to countries where it was inadvisable from biological, technological, social and economical points of
view.
Intermediate beekeeping
It is always advisable to strive for a continuous development process starting from the old traditions already in existence through successive improvements towards a beekeeping technology that is appropriate for its purposes. Such intermediate steps have been taken in many different countries. In a few cases they have been shown to be very successful and have even spread to other countries, for example the Greek hive with top-bars, the Kenya top-bar hive and the African long hive. But in most other cases, beekeepers that use intermediate hives and techniques have had difficulties in succeeding on a large scale. Sometimes such experiments have even been forgotten although very promising results were achieved at the research stage. Reasons for such failures could be: 1. Lack of communication between research workers and practical beekeepers. 2. Many different parties involved in beekeeping efforts and lack of cooperation between them. 3. Poor contacts between agencies in developing countries and the corresponding donor agencies in industrialised countries. 4. High rate of circulation of personnel within different agencies.
Inappropriate nology
beekeeping tech-
The list of countries where inappropriate beekeeping technologies have been tried could be very depressing. We can
find examples of both traditional, intermediate and modern beekeeping in development projects, that are inappropriate under certain conditions. A particular beekeeping project could be burdened by inappropriate technology if any of the following signs are visible: 1.
Productivity among beekeepers is unexpectedly low. 2. Beekeepers are not willing to repay loans. 3. Beekeepers are not trying to expand their activities on their own. 4. Traditional beekeepers or other persons do not voluntarily adopt the practices suggested by beekeeping project members.
