Apimondia Congress in Brazil

The message from Brazilian Apiculturalists is: Africanized bees are manageable!

The XXXIInd International Apicultural Congress (Apimondia) took place in October in Rio de Janeiro, attended by over 1400 beekeepers from around the world.

The Congress allowed Brazilian Apiculturalists to demonstrate the major strides they have achieved during the past 20 years. African bees were first released in Brazil in 1956. The subsequent 10-15 years were disastrous for Brazilian beekeepers with no available technology or literature to help them cope with the Africanized bees. The turning point came in 1967 when a Confederation. of Apiculturalists was established. The 1st National Congress in 1970 was attended by 150 people, and methods for managing Africanized bees began to be developed. By the 5th Congress (held in 1980, attended by 1200) management methods were well established and a new beekeeping industry was underway.

Brazil now ranks amongst the major producing countries with an annual honey production exceeding 30 000T, over 150 Beekeeping Associations, 12 Co-operatives and six State Federations.

Brazil now ranks amongst the major Commercial beekeepers own 2000 hives or more, from which they expect to harvest around 120 kg/colony/year. Migratory beekeeping is practiced widely, taking full advantage of honey flows from citrus, eucalyptus and the native flora. Indeed beekeeping is proving so profitable and popular that a new problem has arisen: theft of hives.

Brazilian success in coping with Africanized bees is due to the achievements of apiculturalists at a large number of research centres and University departments. There are excellent for opportunities beekeeping training, as well as graduate and higher research degrees available in apicultural science. There is a full network for the transfer of scientific and technical knowledge, with regular meetings, National Congresses and a good range of publications. Research is also carried out on native species of stingless

Honey and other hive products are very popular with Brazilians, resulting in a strong and expanding market. This was evident from the array of products displayed at the Congress Exhibition. In particular, propolis extracts and a wide range of medicines, cosmetics and food preparations containing propolis were exhibited. Equipment manufacturers and traders were represented by a total of 47 stands and displays from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Mozambique, Switzerland, USA and West Germany.

During most of the Apimondia Congress, plenary sessions ran concurrently, with additional slide and film shows, and some 97 poster displays. Naturally, beekeeping with Africanized bees formed a predominant theme of the Congress, with many papers devoted to this subject. Aggressiveness of Africanized bees is sometimes still a problem, but on the whole Brazilian beekeepers are happy with their bees, from which they harvest honey, propolis, pollen, wax or royal jelly. In managing Africanized bees smoke is always required and protective clothing must always be worn. Selection and breeding programmes have been underway for many years now, making productive and manageable bees available. Varroa disease is not considered a major problem in tropical areas, but is more serious in southern Brazil where the climate is temperate. Varroa is also less problematical in Africanized bees than in Africanized/Italian hybrids.

With annual inflation running at over 1000%, the organisation of such a large Congress is made especially difficult. However Brazilian apiculturalists offered a warm welcome to the Congress delegates, and the organisers deserve con- gratulations for the smooth-running of the Congress.