News

Bee disease update: Varroa reaches Mexico

Infestation of honey bee colonies with the mite Varroa jacobsoni has been confirmed in the State of Veracruz, Mexico, in Apis mellifera colonies located in tropical climate. The infestation was detected on 9 May, in the State University apiaries. The SARH authorities immediately brought emergency quarantine conditions into effect and implemented extensive and national surveys.

Source: Dinerah Chihu Ampara and Luis Miguel Rojas Avalos

CONGO

“According to legend, their intelligence was such that they appreciated the finer points of Platonic discourse. People have always been drawn to honey bees by their gentleness, their useful products, and their habits much admired by entomologists. I am shepherd of bees; they fill a large part of my life”.

Abou-Badara Camara waxes lyrical on the subject of his bees. However, he is also well versed in more practical arguments, using these to good effect to publicise the frame hive, to increase awareness of techniques for wax and honey extraction.

This 36-year old United Nations Volunteer from Guinea is specialist in tropical beekeeping. He is working on a United Nations Development/International Labour Organisation Project, the aim of which is to assist small and medium-sized businesses. His job is to promote beekeeping.

“When I arrived in September 1987, it was a question of starting from scratch, identifying problems and creating plan of action”. Abou-Badara began by compiling list of local bee forage plants and made study of the honey market. A beekeeping development project was then devised with the Congolese Minister for Rural Development

The difficulties inherent in any project start- up did not discourage Abou-Badara. Equipment for training and demonstration purposes had to be found: “we approached a number of local craftsmen and institutions for the design and manufacture of equipment suited to the local honey bees”.

In the Congo, traditional beekeeping is practised fairly widely, and this is favoured by the rich melliferous flora of savannah and forest regions. Honey is a prized product. Among some ethnic groups it is reserved for close friends and honoured guests. The most common harvesting method is by taking honey from hollows in trees.

Abou-Badara has set up a small apiary school to provide practical instruction for future beekeepers and organised two-month beekeeping training seminar for 25 in Brazzaville. He gives lectures on beekeeping development strategy in the Congo for advisers serving businesses in Brazzaville and on modern harvesting techniques in villages up-country.

The results of the project, which was created from nothing, have been most encouraging. in addition to the 25 trained beekeepers, 13 beekeepers owning almost 190 hives are active in five regions of the country and three have already completed their first harvest. The yield was 15-20 kg of honey and 300 g of wax per colony. Everywhere he has been, Abou-Badara has brought about marked progress: hives have been modernised or improved, veils and smokers are used, harvested honey is of higher quality. Source:

UNV News

Thanks to Jane lles for translating the original article.

ETHIOPIA

National Beekeeping Workshop

The first National Workshop was held from 18-23 May 1992 in Addis Ababa.

Included amongst the 125 participants were regional extension officers, technicians, researchers, individual and commercial beekeepers. There were also participants from the EEC funded project “Menschen für Menschen” and from “Relief & Rehabilitation Commission” and the Ethiopian Children’s Home.

32 papers were presented of which 10 were research results, others were on bee management, diseases, pests, pesticides, honey plants, honey and beeswax processing, packing and marketing, equipment, and on training and extension. These papers will be published in the Proceedings of the Workshop.

Displays prepared by Holeta Bee Research and Training Centre, Ethiopian Children’s Home, private beekeeping equipment producers and Tsigie Honey Factory gave a beautiful insight for the audience and were educational.

Everyone participated in study tour to a backyard apiary, Tsigie Honey Factory, and to Holeta Bee Research and Training Centre. The discussions and study tour benefited the participants and encouraged them to promote the beekeeping industry. It was agreed to establish a beekeepers’ association and to form nine member steering committee to prepare the constitution.

The Workshop was organised by the Beekeeping Unit of the Animal Breeding & Feed Resources Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, Environmental Protection and Development.

Source: Gezahegne Tadesse.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Beekeeping is not traditional in Papua New Guinea. Bees were introduced from Australia in the 1940s. In 1986 project commenced using 80 hives left behind by the Japanese and with assistance from the New Zealand Government. Colony numbers were increased with 500 Apis mellifera queens imported from New Zealand.

Bees do very well at altitudes of 1500 to 2000 metres above sea level, but are not so successful in coastal areas due to the high humidity (19-25%). Currently there are around 200 beekeepers owning 3500 bee hives. Beekeeping is expanding and more people are becoming involved because of the favourable assistance offered by the Agriculture Bank. Small-holder beekeepers have formed a Honey Co-operative which buys, extracts, packs and sells all their honey. Small-holders produce up to 120 tonnes annually. 100 tonnes of honey are consumed locally while 20 tonnes are exported. We hope that with proper management we can increase production from the current 35 kg to 45-50 kg of honey per colony per year.

In addition to packaging and selling honey the Co-operative also manufactures its own beekeeping equipment including boxes, frames and foundation. It is also diversifying into preparing timber for sale.

At present we are unable to meet the total export demand but in the next couple of years we hope to: we are embarking on an ambitious expansion programme to increase to 5000 colonies.

Varroa - Our programme is being threatened by Varroa jacobosoni, discovered in 1987 in our North West Province, on the border with the Indonesian Province of Irian Jaya. We are predicting that in the next year or so Varroa will strike our main beekeeping centres. In preparation for the imminent arrival of Varroa and Tropilaelaps clareae, we have implemented, with the help of New Zealand Government Aid, an intensive three-year training programme at Telford Rural Polytechnic, New Zealand.

This programme is designed to increase the skills of beekeepers and government extension officers. Their training includes the study of bee mites, their behaviour, control and management along with intensive bee breeding skills and general hive management for production. This programme is ensuring that our people are aware and ready to deal with mite invasions of Papua New Guinea, and we feel confident of combating any serious threat to our industry.

We welcome any ideas, hints or experiences from any countries that have experience with Tropilaelaps and Varroa. Your experience is valued in our preparation towards the war against the Varroa mite when it invades our main centres of beekeeping. This is expected within one or two years.

Source: Tella Loie

TANZANIA

The Arusha branch of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania is funding Hadza Beekeeping Scheme to assist traditional hunter/gatherer people to continue to use their environment sustainably through the production of honey and wax. Bees only benefit the environment, but care has to be taken when fire is used during harvest. This will be carefully monitored.

Source: Miombo No 8, May 1992

VENEZUELA

Rural people in Venezuela are being encouraged to diversify production to increase their income. The Beekeeping Development Programme has been designed by the Agrarian National Institute to unify people through Peasant Economical Organisation: this means that enterprises and a credit union get together to establish the programme. The programme includes an apiculture course to prepare professionals and technicians from different organisations involved in the Agrarian Reform process. These people will be in charge of giving financial and technical support to the Peasant Economical Organisation. Under the programme 146 beneficiaries have obtained over 2600 hives.

Finance is provided by the Agricultural Livestock Credit Institute. This organisation provides credit with an interest rate of three per cent and a five year payment term. Payment is done as follows: the first year is free of charge and the remaining four years are paid together with accumulated interests from the first year.

Three headquarter co-operatives will be located in the following regions:

The Andes: co-ordinating Barinas, Mérida, Trujillo and Tachira. Western region: co-ordinating Lara, Yaracuy and Falcén. Eastern region: co-ordinating Anzoategui, Sucre and Monagas.

Source: Filadelfo Laguna Q