Tropical island beekeeping

I: INHACA

What seemed a dream when the beekeeping programme was shaping up has now turned into reality.

Location

Just 30 miles into the Indian Ocean off the Mozambique port of Maputo lies a unique island. It is hard to believe it was once part of the mainland. The island is quiet and peaceful with no wild animals except a few snakes and the honeybees.

It takes two hours to sail to the island from Maputo or a 15 minute flight to the small Inhaca aerodrome. Early in the morning you are lulled by the splashing sea waves mixed with the sweet songs of the storks and Indian house crows.

People

The islanders are calm, tall and friendly people. Their mother tongue is Ronga, slightly different in intonation from that spoken in the city of Maputo. There are few middle-aged people on the Island: most young people migrate to Maputo or are recruited to the gold mines of South Africa. The Island has a population of about 6,000 people, and the main occupation is fishing. Agriculture is difficult as crops do not flourish on the poor quality soil.

The honeybee

The honeybee Apis mellifera scutellata (maybe) is smaller, calmer and blacker than the mainland variety and shows no negative reaction when approached.

Traditional beekeeping

The Island has about 50 dynamic traditional beekeepers with an average of ten hives each. The traditional beekeeping is similar to that practised on the mainland. The difference lies in the hive construction and installation. Whereas mainlanders construct hives from bark, log, pot and straw, the islanders use only logs. When installing a hive the islanders simply place it on the ground, while mainlanders suspend hives in trees or place them on forked branches.

From a scientific point of view, the Island is quite isolated and free from any beekeeping ‘pollution’ from the mainland.

Management

Hive construction coincides with the swarming period in October. Bees are lured into the hive by a traditional bait, an aromatic herb which is common on the Island. The herb is warmed on a flame and rubbed inside the hives. Hives are occupied in no time! According to islanders, hives smeared with herbs are more readily occupied than those not baited. Apiaries are installed near the homesteads. Even though hives are placed directly on the ground they can last over six years without being destroyed by termites or the weather.

In all the colonies we worked with we found no existence of wax moth, ants or bee louse. When we asked about problems with wasps, the answer was no. After noting all these I factors, declared the Island free from bee pests!

Harvest

The signal for honey harvesting is the end of acacia flowering. Traditional beekeepers use torches to calm the bees. People assume that beekeepers scorch the bees with the torch, but if this happens, it is accidental, just as a flame sometimes emerges from a badly managed smoker.

Many beekeepers prefer to open hives at night (a tradition of many African beekeepers who work with defensive bees) and admired the way we handled the bees during the day. The colonies we worked with in log hives were as strong as double brood-box colonies. Nobody was stung and we were even cheered by youths near the apiary. The only problem we noticed was the bees’ tendency to follow people, even for 300 metres. Opening one end of the hive, the beekeeper can observe the nearest combs with capped, ripe honey and harvest these. Only one end of each log hive is harvested which ensures food stores for the colony during the dearth period.

Island honey processing is traditional: the only equipment is the hand! Once at home, the beekeepers squeeze the combs and discard the residue. The value of beeswax and ways of rendering it are not known. The honey is ready to eat or to sell. Good beekeeping years yield up to four honey harvests of 15 to 25 kg per hive per harvest. Traditionally honey is chewed as food, used for treatment of minor wounds and burns, and for beer brewing.

Honey plants

The floral vegetation is marked by mangroves Avicennia nitida and Avicennia marina, Cocos nucifera, Acacia spp, Albizzia spp, herbs and other shrubs. The Island's natural forests are also highly conducive to beekeeping. The blooming period is October to November, leading to the major honey flow from December to January.

The perpetual supply of pollen from the coconut trees allows colonies to build up rapidly and strongly. Though honey from mangrove is slightly dark and thin when mixed with honey from other sources the result will definitely be in good demand. Toddy-making causes a lot of bee casualties as the bees go for the sap dripping from the slashed inflorescences. Nylon gauze tied on top of the pots will stop the bees drowning.

The Inhaca local council with the Faculty of Biology of the Eduardo Mondlane University are protecting areas of scientific interest for studies and preservation of nature. These areas also support many honey plants and wild bee nests.

Reaping the fruits of patience

The management of bees in log hives is difficult and experience has always been the best teacher. Through failures, the beekeepers have managed to guess what is actually happening inside a Jog hive, further aided by ‘control-harvesting’ from wild nests; ie if colonies in tree cavities have ripe honey, then there is a good possibility that the log hives in the same zone are ripe as well.

Marketing honey

After honeycombs are squeezed, the liquid honey is taken to sell at the central market or at Inhaca hotel. With a few wax particles on top of every container the honey sells well. In the old days, the price of honey was negligible but the current price on the Island is 4,000 meticais a litre (around 5$US).

National programme

In collaboration with Maputo City Council we devised a beekeeping development project for the Island and CIDA agreed to finance a pilot study.

A reconnaissance study was conducted and traditional beekeepers were recruited. The local beekeepers were given a week long . ‘crash course’ in practical matters. My assistant and I conducted the training and helped to transform beekeeping in Inhaca from traditional to transitional.

After four days of hard work, we had transferred all the colonies that were in log hives to top-bar hives. We baited the rest of the hives and the catch boxes to lure wild swarms looking for a home. The log hives will now serve as trap boxes. The beekeepers managed to remove stray colonies from tree cavities underground around their apiaries and put them in their hives.

After the course, to practise what was learnt, the mainland beekeeping programme sent a technical team and a consignment of beekeeping equipment.

The project equipment is worth millions of meticais, but the beekeepers have been subsidised, paying a token value for the whole consignment. Repayment is extended for three and a half years. The beekeeping programme will maintain a strong contact with the recently trained beekeepers to ensure their turn towards profitable beekeeping. More training will be given so that beekeepers can gradually make their beekeeping more enjoyable and lucrative. Beekeepers also need access to the necessary equipment and technical assistance, and assistance with the marketing of their products.

by Mathew Kawa (Mathew Kawa is Beekeeping Technical Advisor with the Programa Nacional de Apicultura in Mozambique).

II: SEYCHELLES

The Seychelles Archipelago consist of 115 islands spread over an area of 1.3 million km². The main island, Mahe, lies 1759 km east of Mombasa, and 3,255 km from Bombay. Lying close to the equator (4°S) the Seychelles have a tropical climate.

The economy of the Seychelles has traditionally been based on agriculture. Commercial crops include coconut, vanilla, clove and tea but many tropical and subtropical fruits like mango, oranges, pawpaw, pineapples, citrus, banana and avocado are grown.

Beekeeping has been practised for many years, but the full potential has not been achieved. Now the government is anxious to develop beekeeping and is prepared to help those who are genuinely interested.

There are about 40-50 beekeepers in the Seychelles owning 1500-2000 colonies. To improve honey production FAO has started a pilot project assisted by the Extension Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Seychelles Polytechnic.

Students from Port Launay village have five colonies and the Seychelles Polytechnic students have 20. They have learnt to domesticate the bees for their own advantage. Brood diseases are unknown in the Seychelles. There are flowers throughout the year and according to FAO, the islands of Mahe, Praslin and La Digue could produce over 20 tonnes of honey a year. With 50 colonies a beekeeper could be richly rewarded!

The tailoring and carpentry sections in Port Launay village helped the young people by making hives and protective clothing. Now Seychellois, especially the younger generation, know that beekeeping and agriculture cannot be separated: “the bee helps the garden, the garden helps the bee, and man reaps the benefit of both”. For dedicated and ambitious youth, beekeeping provides a challenge and hope. They can demonstrate how to turn honey into money.

Villagers are also helping by growing more honey plants including Albizzia, Antigonon, Scaevola, and Calophylium.

As a result of the interest shown by FAO, the Ministries of Agriculture and Education and others, more young people are starting beekeeping as a part-time business. These small islands of the Seychelles, with ample nectar and pollen producing flora would welcome potential investors in our beekeeping. This could be in the form of capital investment, training, equipment or technical know-how.

by K Sivapatham.