Asian Apicultural Association - Concepts and Challenges

by L R Verma, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, Nepal.

The major task of AAA is to act as an information dissemination centre by publishing scientific and extension literature for the advancement of apiculture, primarily with Asiatic species of honeybees. This association will also act as a co-ordinating agency for sharing technology and its transfer for the development and promotion of apiculture. It will organise seminars, workshops, conferences, and monitoring tours, and provide beekeeping advisory services to government and non-government organisations in the region.

The Asian region is rich in bee resources with four or more species of honeybee. Among these the Asian hive bee Apis cerana resembles European Apis mellifera because it can be kept in hives. A. cerana has many valuable characteristics of biological and economic importance. These include a docile and industrious nature, being less prone to attacks from wasps, and high levels of resistance to noserna disease and parasitic Varroa jacobsoni and Tropilaelaps clareae that plague A. mellifera. A. cerana can co-exist with other native bee species and requires least chemical treatment in control of epidemics. However, this native bee species has several difficult behavioural characteristics. These include frequent swarming and absconding, a tendency to rob, the production of a large number of laying workers, and relatively low honey yields. These negative traits vary with bee race and management efficiency.

There is a movement in Asia to import A. mellifera for commercial exploitation. Such introductions into northern India, the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan, parts of China, Japan, and Thailand are the basis of flourishing beekeeping industries. The exotic bee species can produce more honey than native A. cerana and is more suited to management technology.

However, many importations of A. mellifera have proved disastrous because of its allopatric nature, the introduction of new diseases, and the presence of parasitic mites. There is now apprehension that importation of A. mellifera will lead to the decline of the A. cerana population in its native habitat to a level that threatens its extinction as a genetic resource. A. cerana is already a rare species in Japan and parts of China. Before this happens elsewhere a conservation strategy involving promotion of beekeeping with this native bee species must be adopted to maintain genetic diversity. Such strategies first require the exploration and evaluation of different sub species/races/ecotypes of the native species and then selective breeding, appropriate apiary management and research.

The genetic diversity of A. mellifera recognises 24 sub-species of varying economic usefulness. So far only three sub-species of A. cerana are recognised, although there may be more because of its wide geographic distribution. The northern and high altitude sub-species/ecotypes of A. cerana are likely to yield valuable honeybee germplasm which may have commercial applications; this is possible not only throughout Asia but also in the western hemisphere where A. mellifera is threatened with parasitic bee mites and the spread of Africanized bees.

In south and south-east Asia, there are some countries where A. mellifera has not yet been introduced, and projects funded by national, bilateral and multinational donor agencies are attempting to improve beekeeping with A. cerana.

Unfortunately such efforts have not yielded satisfactory results. One obvious reason for the failure of these projects has been the unsuccessful transfer of western bee management technology and expertise to beekeeping with A. cerana. This species requires different management practices and equipment because of its nest building behaviour, colony cycle, temperature regulatory mechanisms, foraging, colony defence, smaller body size, and other behavioural characteristics. Some attempts have been made in India and China to improve the traditional methods of beekeeping A. cerana and in mountain parts of these countries A. cerana matches A. mellifera in honey production.

The ecological resources of the Asian Region offer great potential for the development of apiculture. It could become a “land of honey” with such ideal climatic conditions and diverse bee and floral resources, but this requires adequate original planning by policy makers and continuing commitment from the programmes. In many countries of the region apiculture is still a traditional household activity, the native hive bee is kept in traditional hives, and honey is harvested by squeezing the whole comb. It is then sold in pre-used containers without quality control.

Although beekeeping with A. cerana has been closely linked with the natural and cultural heritage, particularly of the Mountain communities, it has not yet developed on scientific lines as it has commercially with A. mellifera in several countries of the West. Several countries do not possess the basic infrastructure, skilled manpower, extension, and training facilities, or basic research programmes for the advancement of apiculture. Scattered promotional efforts being made by different national and international agencies have not yielded the desired results. It is hoped that the co-ordinated efforts of AAA will play a significant role in filling these gaps.