LOOK BACK
IN
DANGER
AND DODGE MAN-EATING
TIGERS
This group of Jamaican boys have been collecting scrap timber at a shingle factory. The scraps will later be sawed into frames for bee hives: the finished frames can be seen stacked in the background.
PAKISTAN The Department of Entomology at the Agricultural Research Institute, Tarnab is executing a modest research project funded by the Government of Pakistan. A 15-day training course is given each year in March to prospective beekeepers of NWFP and Punjab (180 trainees in March 1989). Since funds are limited only locals who can afford board and lodging are encouraged for training. With the introduction of Apis mellifera in the early 1970s and the subsequent successful project for Afghan Refugees, there are now more than 12 000 hives of occidential bees with an annual honey production of 1500 to 2000 tonnes. The income generating scheme for Afghan Refugees was terminated in July 1987 due to lack of funds and profitable honey marketing. We are confronted with many problems: honey marketing, bee pests and diseases and the production of quality queens. We should be able to exploit the honey reserve, estimated to be 50 000 tonnes annually in NWFP alone, more gainfully.
(Imtiaz Ahmad, Agricultural Research Institute)
SOLOMON ISLANDS The Solomon Islands Beekeepers’ Association has decided to form a Co-operative Society. This new Co-operative will help with the provision of equipment, technical advice and centralised facilities for the extraction and marketing of honey. A new Workshop is planned for equipment manufacture and honey processing, and the Co-operative will own and manage around 150 of its own hives. Funding for technical assistance, a building, and a vehicle has been provided by the New Zealand Government, but the new Co-operative is designed to be self-supporting in its running costs. Revenue will arise from the 150 hives (which will cover the manager's wages and other labour costs), the sale of equipment and the packaging
and marketing of honey. Another important step has been to arrange a total ban on the importation of honeybees (including queens) into the Solomon Islands. The Solomon Islands are currently free from any bee diseases, and this is the only way to ensure that they remain so. (Information from Island Bee News, edited by
J David Galvin,
Tenaru)
TOBAGO Beekeepers in Tobago are to form an Association. The decision to get together followed a two-day seminar and workshop for practising and potential beekeepers organised by the Agriculture Division of the House of Assembly in conjunction with the Agricultural Development Bank on 18 and 19 May 1989. 42. people attended, 19 of whom were Extension Officers, the remainder being practising beekeepers and those who want to get into the honey-making business. M K I Hallim, Government Inspector of Apiaries, lectured on the characteristics of the Africanized bee, its migratory patterns through South America, over to Trinidad and its expected migration to Tobago. He spoke of successful ways of managing Africanized bees and on queen rearing. Gladstone Solomon, an experienced Tobago beekeeper, spoke on systems for the successful collection of pollen, and Linval Wilkinson, an ADB Officer, discussed the Bank’s role in financing a beekeeping enterprise.
The seminar which was held at the Agriculture Division’s Training Facility at the Kendal Farm School, also featured video tapes on the Africanized bee, and a field expedition was organised to demonstrate the proper selection of beekeeping sites. The seminar was described as a complete success and culminated with the decision of beekeepers to form an Association. (From Tobago News, 2 June 1989; sent in by Arlene Blade)
Heard the one about the fearsome Bengal tigers who only attack men from behind? Well, workers at the tiger reserves have, and it explains why most of them now walk around with rubber face masks tied to the backs of their heads. And, according to wildlife expert Peter Jackson, this is saving their lives. Since the theory was first put to the test two years ago, nobody wearing a face mask has been attacked and killed by Sundarbans tigers in West Bengal. Two-faced honey collecters and other workers can roam happily round the mangrove forests while the tigers remain timidly in the undergrowth. But people who believe the masks provide no protection have not, alas, fared so well. Mr Jackson says that 30 unmasked workers were killed last year because they refused to heed the advice. “There is no doubt that these simple, cheap masks are saving people's lives in an area where tigers are renowned for being particularly aggressive’, he said. Mr Jackson reported his findings to a species survival conference in Rome as an example of how humans and wildlife can live in peace with each other.
(Sunday Express, August 1989)
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY OF INVERTEBRATE REPRODUCTION The fifth International Society of Invertebrate Reproduction Congress was held in Nagoya, Japan in July. The following Resolution on Asian Honeybees was accepted by the 500 participants at the Congress: The Asian Hive Bee, Apis cerana, as well as other wild native bee species are on the verge of extinction especially in the Himalayan region because of traditional honey hunting methods, introduction of allopatric European honeybees Apis mellifera and continuing ecological degradations. All concerned institutions and organisations in the region are urged to initiate research on the biology and management of these scientifically and economically important species of honeybees. Professor Dr W Engels, ISIR President.
Q.
have a grandfather but no father, I have grandsons but no sons. Who am I? (Answer on page 10). |
5
