News

CAMEROON REPUBLIC

The St Plus X Beekeeping Club in Bamenda has received a donation of 225.000 francs CFA from the Canadian Embassy in Yaounde. The donation will help to expand the club’s beekeeping activities: these include the publication of a new Newsletter on Beekeeping for distribution to members of the Club.

Details from Barnabus Bonu, St Pius X College, Cameroon Republic.

GHANA

Donkor-Krom-Afram piains is in the Eastern tegion, and has an abundance of bee plants. In March 1989 the district administration ordered the arrest and prosecution of any honey hunter seen selling honey. The reason for thisis to try and stop the bush fires and killing of bees with fire brands.

(Francis Sosu, FES Beekeeping Promotion Centre, Ghana)

INDIA

The Amritsar district of Punjab bears extremes of climate with cold winters and hot summers. Most bee forage is from cultivated crops and every bit of land is cultivated. The winter crop of mustard (October-January) is a steady source of honey and pollen. It is followed by a short but intense bloom of fruit orchards (pear, peach, plum and citrus) during February-March. Eucalyptus, which is grown for timber along the borders of the fields provides flora during December- March. Sunflower, now being introduced as an oil crop, is another source of forage during April and May. In the hot summer months of May and June, the main honey flow is due to the blooming of the fodder crop Berseem Trifolium alexandrinum. The monsoon period of July-September is the lean period when hardly any flora is found and predators like wax moth and ants become active.

In the past, all honey and wax were obtained from wild colonies of Apis dorsata.

With the introduction of Apis mellifera during the sixties, beekeepers have taken to keeping these bees in Langstroth hives. We have formed an Association to look after the interests of members and to arrange for the collective sale of honey.

As beekeepers it has been our sad experience that although Indian people value honey greatly as a medicine, they are not willing to eat it as food. It is believed that eating honey causes too much ‘heat’ and can be harmful especially in summer. Another erroneous belief that persists is that granulated honey cannot be pure. Since mustard honey granulates easily during the winter, we find it hard to sell without repeated heating. Per capita consumption of honey being extremely small, we have reached a state of glut without producing any substantial quantity.

(P S Pammi)

INDONESIA

Apiaka is a new eight page beekeeping newspaper published in Bahasa Indonesia, and costing Rp 500 per issue. It is available from Pusat Apiari Pramuka Kompleks Wiladatika, Jakarta, Indonesia.

IRAN

Beekeeping and honey production have received more attention since the 1979 Iran revolution. Over 1.5 million colonies of Apismellifera are managed by 40 000 beekeepers. Average yields are about 7.5kg per colony per year, with a total production of 10000T honey. Most beekeepers move their bees to the southern part of the country for over-wintering: the climate is sub-tropical and spring begins a couple of months earlier than in other zones. Forage at this time of year is provided by eucalyptus, orange and field crops. Serious bee diseases in Iran are Varroa and nosema. Varroa is treated with Folbex VA, varroasin, varoastan and perizin. Fumagillin is found effective against nosema. American foulbrood has been found in a few apiaries.

(K H Mousavifard)

JAMAICA

A beekeeping project organised by George Skirm is helping Jamaican youths to learn practical beekeeping. He writes “Making Langstroth frames is a time-consuming process and ten frames a day, wired, is about the best one can do while transferring skill. To increase hive availability only four frames are used in each hive and the rest of the hive, for the time being, is fitted with top-bars. After a super and its frames have been made, additional deep frames are made and the comb cut from the top-bars, tied into these frames and returned to the hive.

Nasanov pheromone has been used successfully to attract swarms, and similar success is obtained by rubbing the interior of the brood box with a plant called fever grass. Originally it was intended to purchase lumber for the project, but in the aftermath of hurricane Gilbert I found the scrap pile of a shingle factory. The cedar chunks no longer large enough for shingles are just right for our carpenter's electrical saw. We were thus left with only the boxes to be made of purchased lumber.

A recent innovation has been the use of roof sheathing from an exquisite Wesley chapel for bee boxes. The chapel had a high pitched roof that was lost to hurricane Gilbert. The wood, hand sawn mahogany, is as sound as the day it was installed. Any scrap that can be cut to 47.5cm lengths can be joined for bee box construction, with a top-bar slab left over.

As you can see, whatever you need is out there. All it takes is a little creativity to find and identify it. Go for it!”

(George L Skirm)

LIBYA

The Tripoli Beekeeping Association was founded in 1980 and has about 1020 members. The main activity of this Association is to improve the beekeeping industry in Tripoli by teaching modern beekeeping and importing modern materials and tools from foreign countries. It has also some minor activities such as buying and selling honey and other bee products.

(Shamseddin M Elkritly)

MEXICO

Mexico now has a new publication, Apicultura Moderna, published by a group with interests in bees and beekeeping. The new journal will be published in January, May and September, and is available from Instituto de Investigacion Apicola de Mexico. Published in Spanish, the cost is $3500.00 Pesos.

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A seminar was conducted at Tecoman, in the state of Colima, Mexico on 25-26 May 1989. The seminar was sponsored by the Autonomous University of Guadalajara, SARH (The National Agency for Soil and Hydraulics Resources) and the Ohio State University. Approximately 120 participants attended the various discussions on Africanized honeybee biology and behaviour. Dr James Tew presented lectures on bee biology, behaviour and instrumental insemination while Dr Jose Antonio Zozaya, subdirector for the Mexican National Program for the Control of Africanized Honeybees, discussed the various plans and programmes for the Mexican National Program.

The seminar included a visit to a National Queen Production Operation and gave ample opportunity for debate and discussion. The attitude of the seminar was positive and co-operative.

(Apiculture Awareness, June 1989)

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 occidental 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)