quantities (a dessertspoonful) three times a day. An ointment can be made from the tincture. At first the solution has to be mixed thoroughly with the same quantity of clean honey. Then it can be mixed with an edible fatty substance like butter, or ghee, and again it should be stirred until evenly mixed with the same quantity of the first mixture (with ethyl alcoho! and honey). One should experiment with small quantities to find a suitable fatty substance. The ointment should be kept in a closed container in a cool place. The ointment
can be used for a wide variety of complaints, stimulating the healing process
and protecting against infections: wounds, grazes, burns, acne, dry eczema, psoriasis, herpes, itch, inflammations (also of the ear), boils, warts, bruises and pain. The ointment is active for about six hours. For cuts and wounds it can be added on a plaster, for other purposes it can be rubbed gently onto the skin as a thin layer. A final word about the toxicity of propolis. Relatively few studies have been carried out on the subject, but
generally it is recognised as harmless. In cases of serious low blood-pressure or low blood sugar, propolis should not be taken orally. In these cases it can cause dizziness. Although there is an indication that one in a thousand people may be sensitive it cannot be harmful to your health. To test for allergy to propolis simply apply some propolis salve on the inner wrist. If it does not redden or itch within a quarter of an hour, the patient is not allergic to propolis.
Ghana: 10 years of beekeeping development
African bees and Africanized bees From the correspondence we receive at IBRA there appears to be much confusion regarding the terms African and Africanized. African honeybees are those existing in Africa and are never referred to as Africanized. Africanized honeybees are those in Central and South America which originated from African bees introduced earlier this century. It has often been stated that Africanized bees are hybrids between introduced African bees and European bees (which had been introduced centuries before). However genetic research reveals that Africanized bees are not hybrids: they are genetically identical to their African ancestors. Some beekeepers in areas with Africanized bees introduce European queens and_ thus produce hybrid strains of bees with less defensive behaviour. Sometimes the term ‘pure Africanized” is used: this means African bees in America which have not been hybridized with other races of bees. Perhaps a more appropriate term for Africanized bees would be African bees in America? However this is rather wordy and until a better term is coined, the Newsletter will continue to refer to these bees as Africanized. Of course we * * **R would never use the term K
BEES!
to everyone who has kindly sent interesting colour pictures of bees, beekeeping methods and local events. It is most useful to see these. However if your pictures are intended for use in the Newsletter, then please send negatives as well, as colour prints reproduce very poorly.
Thank you
12
Ghana provides an excellent example of a country where beekeeping has developed steadily over the last 10 years. Initial foreign assistance helped to procure useful information from elsewhere, and to start training of Ghanaian beekeepers. Further important steps were the start of a newsletter and the formation of first one and then several associations. With such a healthy infrastructure Ghana now has many rural people enjoying the benefits of beekeeping, supported by experts who are already sharing their expertise with neighbouring countries. The following article provides a review of the progress and problems still facing beekeeping development in Ghana.
Traditional beekeeping has long been practised in the Northern, Upper, Volta and Central regions of Ghana. Different types of hive are used in different places: in the north, clay pots and gourds are used, in the Volta Region, log hives are commonly made from dead royal palm trees. Central Region beekeepers use clay pot hives of a different design to those used in the North. Until the Technology Consultancy Centre (TCC) started its beekeeping programme in 1978, no government or aid agency had made any attempt to develop traditional beekeeping. During the 1960s, the Government had tried unsuccessfully to implement an apiculture project at Pokuase, near Accra using bees imported from Europe. All the insects died and the apiculture programme was shelved. The new path to beekeeping was created when the TCC officer for craft industries visited Kurofoforu, a village on the outskirts of Kumasi, where brass ornaments are made using the traditional lost-wax process. The craftsmen told him that they were suffering from a scarcity of beeswax and the attendant high prices. As a result, the TCC initiated a beekeeping programme aimed at making beeswax available for the lostwax brass casters. In those days the only hives known in Ghana were traditional ones unsuitable for management and control. Therefore a suitable bee hive was sought. An article in the Catholic Standard described the Kenya top-bar hive as the best one for the African honeybee. Tony Moody of the Commonwealth SecTetariat was in Ghana at the time and provided more information on beekeeping in East Africa. Drawings of the
Kenya top- bar hive were obtained and three trial hives were made. The very day that the three hives were brought to the TCC office, two men from the Brong-Ahafo Region approached TCC for information on beekeeping. Two of the beehives were given to the men and they were asked to send in a progress report. Two weeks later one of the men returned to report that “the Atebubu bees have agreed to stay in both the bee hives.” On hearing the good news, the TCC installed two bee hives in the University of Science and Technology Botanic Garden (in May 1978) and within two weeks both were colonised. This sparked off the TCC’s apiculture promotion programme. lot of groundwork was done. Two A officers were sent to East Africa with support from the Commonwealth Secretariat to study the new industry. In January 1981 beekeeping was officially “outdoored” with the staging of the first national beekeeping workshop. This was attended by 55 participants, two of whom were from the Republic of Togo. During this time Ghana Bee News was “conceived” and it was actually “born” in March 1981 with the first news itemn, “Ghana provides accommodation for bees”. From 1981 to the present time, more than 20 beekeeping workshops and short beekeeping courses have been organised by the TCC’s Apiculture Promotion Unit (AP). Workshops have usually attracted a few participants from neighbouring countries such as Cameroon, lvory Coast, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Togo. This has urged the APU to organise short international bee courses lasting one to two weeks. This way the
