Trees and bees

Beekeeping is encouraged in developing countries for a variety of reasons: to produce honey for food or a cash income, to produce beeswax as a useful cash and export crop, to ensure adequate pollination of nearby crops and, less commonly, to produce royal jelly. These aspects of beekeeping have been discussed in earlier editions of the Newsletter. A further important reason for promoting beekeeping in developing countries is in conservation of tropical forests.

The people who live in tropical forests are amongst the poorest in the world. They rely on shifting cultivation for their food and wood as a fuel source. These same people are the first to suffer from the effects of deforestation: soil and water degradation, poor agricultural productivity, fuelwood shortage and flooding. Ultimately of course people everywhere will suffer the consequences of deforestation. Climates may already be changing as a result of global warming.

What is needed are sources of income for rural people so that they can support themselves without irreversibly exploiting natural resources or being obliged to migrate to urban centres. Beekeeping is one such activity. In many tropical countries beekeeping is practised by forest-dwelling people, and provides a sustainable, economic argument for the retention of forest. For example in Newsletter 12 the value of traditional honey hunting in the threatened rain forests of Malaysia was described, and in this edition there is news of the Tropical Forestry Action Plan in Tanzania and a of social forestry in Thailand (page 2).

Conservationists understand that habitats cannot be protected without the’ interest and involvement of local people. By ensuring that beekeepers are supported and have good markets for their products, beekeepers themselves will help to ensure the continued existence of the native habitat.

In our efforts to support beekeepers and encourage development what sort of help is the most useful? The answer is appropriate assistance encouraging sustainable beekeeping practices.

Traditional beekeeping methods are sustainable. They do not depend upon: Materials being brought in from elsewhere and whose supply may be unpredictable. The importance of sustainable beekeeping practices are underlined by several items in this: edition: a discussion by Börje Svensson (page 3) of the need for appropriate beekeeping equipment and David Wainwright (page 5) provides an economic comparison between hive types used in Zambia showing that although production per colony is lower in bark hives than frame hives, bark hive beekeeping is more likely to provide an economic return. On page 2 Adrian Gnägi introduces the idea of a new strategy, Farming Systems Research and Development. I hope that you will find some of the ideas expressed here new and refreshing. It is a debate which all are welcome to join.