Ghana: 10 years of beekeeping development

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 Secretariat 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 lot of groundwork was done. Two 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 item, “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, Ivory 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 Centre has been able to train not only individual beekeepers but also national programme organisers. The beekeeping programme in Ghana provides training for beekeepers of all ages including schoolchildren and old people, and women as well as men.

In all the APU has shown the way of modern beekeeping to over 3500 People. It is also interesting to note that many people who have never attended a beekeeping course are also keeping bees in Kenya top-bar hives (KTBH). Changes have been made to the original KTBH in response to complaints received from beekeepers. Lizards, ants Some wasps and other hive predators like the Acherontia atropos have led to the hive entrance being redesigned to keep out any hive predator with a wingspan of over 12 cm.

Ghana’s KTBH has 27 top-bars and is usually built with odum wood (Choro- Phora excelsa). new stand has been Made which can be dismantled and reassembled in seconds. While the KTBH Serves it purpose well, it does not enable the full potential of beekeeping to be exploited. The main drawback is that during harvesting the combs, as well as the honey are taken, so that the bees have to build new combs before they can start producing honey again. Therefore there is a long delay before the next harvest.

In 1986, the APU decided to switch Over to the Langstroth hive which allows the beekeeper to harvest honey without damaging combs. The Langstroth hive requires some machine work to cut the frames, but after that the beekeeper can assemble it, thus reducing manufacturing cost. The Langstroth hive used in Ghana is not identical to that used in Europe and America. The frames are fixed with stoppers so that little sticks can be used to seal off gaps between the frames. This enables the beekeeper to open the lid of the hive without the risk of attack by bees leaving from the top of the hive. To date, more than 400 Modified Langstroth hives have been produced,

The tropical African honeybee has two major characteristics which distinguish it from bees in Europe and else- Where: it is aggressive and it absconds frequently, sometimes with only the slightest provocation. Aggressiveness is a minor problem compared with absconding.

The time has now come to support research into ways of overcoming the Problem of absconding, using the expertise of Africans themselves, gained from their experience of working with the African bee.

Stephen Adjare, Ghana Bee News, 27, 1989