Constraints on production of honey from bark hives The traditional beekeeper Training usually produces honey for beer brewing whereas most external markets are for table honey. The producer has to be trained in the specific quality requirements of the external market which differ from the quality required for beer
brewing. Bark hive makNatural resources ing destroys the very trees which the beekeeper needs for honey production. Therefore sufficient areas of forest are Tequired to sustain hive-making activities and provide forage for the bees. However bark hive beekeeping in Zambia ranks as a very minor and selective use of the forest resource and is not Tesponsible for deforestation. On the contrary the bark hive beekeepers are the foremost guardians of the forest from which they receive their livelihood.
manufacturing bark hives to ensure a high ratio of uncropped : cropped hives. The box hive Honey for the bees beekeeper tries to ensure that bees survive the dearth season by leaving some honey or by feeding. For the bark hive beekeeper a better policy might be to crop a small proportion of the hives but transport of the honey by vehicle. The beekeeper with Cropping ratio hives many occupied is unable to crop them all. This means that a hive might stay two to five years without cropping. During this time large reserves of honey can accumulate and many swarms are produced to occupy other empty hives. The opposite situation where a beekeeper crops all the hives, including new occupations, is not so productive.
Cost-effectiveness
The most cost-
effective activity is the construction of hives. To take full advantage of the possibilities of the technology the beekeeper should invest time in to harvest all the combs from these colonies. This would leave many colonies undisturbed and give a greater assurance of the survival of sufficient swarming colonies. 1
2
SILBERRAD, R E M (1976) Beekeeping in Zambia. Bucharest, Romania; Apimondia Publishing House WENDORF, H (1987) Peasant beekeepers and the impact of IRDP in Zambia's North Western Province — Zambezi District. Berlin, GFR; Free University
100
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{%) 50
40 30
10
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(kg
comb
30
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Production honey/hive/year)
K12.00/day from bark hives break even points for box hives income K12.00/day from box hives
a = income b = c
=
Figure 1. Daily net income possible from box and bark hives according to hive occupation and productivity, Research is needed to maximise productivity of bark hive beekeeping In order to maximise production the bark hive beekeepers’ activities must be Planned according to the economic characteristics of the technology, which will differ greatly from those of the box hive. Previously there has been the tend€ncy amongst extension workers to Carry over assumptions relevant to box hives. There is a need to develop adapted bark hive management techniques based on properly controlled field trials.
Production in a Limiting factors good year is often limited by the labour Ttequired to carry honey to the marketing Point. This can be solved by organisation of beekeepers into large groups and construction of tracks to allow
BD
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Mede llin
IBRA BRANCH LIBRARIES In addition to the main IBRA library housed at IBRA Headquarters in Cardiff there are four other IBRA libraries in Colombia, Kenya, India and Japan. The Branch Library in Colombia is based in the Faculty of Science at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellin. Dr Gilberto Morales Soto writes that all the available information is located in the Biology Building. There are more than 2400 papers and almost 80 books covering bee biology, taxonomy, behaviour, pests and diseases, beekeeping techniques and Africanized bees. At present information is indexed according to subject and author and these indices will shortly be transferred to computer. Most of the material in the library has been provided from IBRA Headquarters, but some has been bought by the University or been donated by authors. The Library is mainly used by students and others from universities or official institutions in Colombia. The library has received some requests and visitors from Argentina, Chile and Mexico, and welcomes further use by those outside Colombia.
(Gilberto Morales Soto)
