News

BRAZIL

The Museum of the American Man Foundation is using IDB Funding for Special Operations to develop beekeeping activities among 250 small-scale farmers and their families who live near the Serra da Capivara National Park in Piauf.

The Park is a protected area of significant ecological and archaeological importance, with tare species of flora and fauna, and rock paintings dating back 17,000 years. The beekeeping activities will provide living for the residents without being harmful to the area's ecology.

Source: The IDB, September-October 1992

GHANA

The enthusiasm of people to make money from honey has not been lost on Ebenezer Nartey, who as driver with the Rural and Women's Industries Division of GRATIS has made many trips to beekeeping workshops and has learnt the craft of managing bee hives and harvesting honey.

Realising that he can supplement his income with the sale of honey and beeswax, in 1991 he acquired three hives to install at his hometown of Kodiabe in the Greater Accra Region.

Barely five months after, Ebenezer was able to harvest four gallons of honey from his hives which he sold at 900 Cedis per beer bottle. Earnings from the sale of honey and beeswax enabled him to purchase three more hives. “Beekeeping can be lucrative and I am going to prove it by getting deeply involved” says Ebenezer, who expects to harvest gallon of honey from each of his six hives before the end of the year and hopes to acquire more bee hives to expand the business.

Source: Gratis News, October 1992

INDIA

Control of Thai sacbrood disease

A Workshop to discuss the control of Thai sacbrood disease was held on 31 October 1992 at Mercara, Karnataka. It was organised by the Government of Karnataka and the State level steering committee for the control of Thai sacbrood disease.

The Workshop was attended by over 300 scientists, officials and beekeepers from all over Karnataka.

Dr Channabasavanna inaugurated the Workshop and stressed the economic importance of beekeeping and measures for conservation of all three species of honey bees. Sri P T Devaiah presented brief account of the occurrence of Thai sacbrood disease in Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and the damage caused to the bee industry where it is estimated that 90% of colonies are affected.

Dr C Chandrasekhara Reddy gave a history of Thai sacbrood disease in India and abroad and suggested short term measures of destruction of infected brood and banning of migratory beekeeping in the affected regions for immediate control of the disease. Long term measures for the control of Thai sacbrood disease included the identification and mass rearing of disease-resistant queens and their supply to beekeepers.

He also indicated on the basis of epidemiological studies that the Thai sacbrood virus currently affecting colonies in South India is the same as that which destroyed many thousands of colonies in northern India during 1978 to 1984.

Sri Joyappa reported that as many as 6000 colonies have been lost in Kodagu district alone. Professor G K Veeresh conducted a technical session and answered questions pertaining to the disease.

Sri Sampangi was mainly responsible for the success of the Workshop, and he emphasised the need for preservation and conservation of honey bee species.

He also stressed the need for the establishment of Regional Centre: the Workshop unanimously passed a Resolution and recommended to the Government of Karnataka that an Apicultural Research Centre with all modern facilities be immediately established.

Source: Dr Reddy, Department of Zoology, Bangalore University, Bangalore.

JAPAN

Taste of honey brings brush with death

Five loggers in Iwate Prefecture on northern Honshu licked honey from some old honeycombs they found inside hollow log and suffered symptoms of severe poisoning.

Symptoms included difficulty walking and falling into semiconscious state, an official said “I think they each only licked small amount but it was enough to cause nausea and numbness”.

Tests of the honey found poison from wolf's bane*, a flower of the buttercup family that contains dangerous alkaloids. “Poisoning from honey like this is certainly rare” the official said.

* Wolf's bane Aconitum napellus, also known as aconite or monk's hood.

Source: Louis E Hitchcock. From The Washington Times, 8 July 1992.

KENYA

Tom Carroll has started work as a beekeeping management officer with the Kenya Indigenous Forest Conservation Project (KIFCON) in Nakuru, Kenya. Mr Carroll is a VSO volunteer. His main objective is to encourage beekeepers to adopt methods of extracting resources for hive production with minimal damage to the forest.

MEXICO

The Subcomité Penisular para el Control, Aprovechamiento de la Abeja Africanizada Fomento Apicola is a not-for-profit regional organisation working in the State of Yucatan. We expect our actions to have some impact in the rest of the Yucatan Peninsula in the near future. The other two states that form the Peninsula are Campeche and Quintana Roo.

The Subcommittee was legally constituted in July 1991 by four Mexican honey exporting companies. and by three beekeepers’ co- operatives (about 8000 beekeepers). These two groups together handle all the honey export activity in Yucatan. Through a third-party agreement the Federal Government has provided the honey exporters with operating funds of $30,000.

The honey exporters will match this amount through contribution of $1.67 per tonne of honey bought by them in the State of Yucatan during 1992, and of $3.34 per tonne during 1993. The third party in the agreement is the Government of the State of Yucatan, which will be making an equal contribution to the funding.

Funding is still needed to obtain one or more vehicles and to be able to hire more personnel for the project.

Source: Carlos Vergara, Executive Officer, Colonia Itzimnd, Mexico

PERU

The IDB Fund for Special Operations is providing $500,000 to the Foundation for National Development to promote beekeeping activities among some 500 low income farmers in the north west coastal area of Lambayeque.

Source: The IDB, August 1992

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

The Tobago Apicultural Society is now formally in existence. The first Management Committee was voted in on 3 November 1992. Our official mailing address is given below. Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of the month at 1600 hours and visiting beekeepers are welcome to share their experiences with us. The aims and objectives of the Society are:

1. To facilitate interaction and to foster a spirit of co-operation amongst apiarists.

2. To assist members in the theoretical and practical aspects of apiculture.

3. To associate with related organisations on national and international level.

4. To contribute to the growth and development of apiculture in Tobago.

Source: Gladstone Solomon, c/o Division of Agriculture, Botanic Station, Tobago.

UGANDA

Kabarole Beekeepers’ Association is growing day by day. It has spread over the following counties: Buraghya, Buyangabo, Kibale, Mwnge. The time has come to organise the Association more strictly and we have planned general meeting for all the interested beekeepers in the Kabarole District. On the agenda is formation of the Constitution of the Association. Other agenda points will be: beekeeping seminars in several counties, introduction of standard Dadant hives, erection of collection centres for honey and wax, marketing locally and in the cities such as Kampala.

What is also of importance is the interest of the government in this growing eagerness to keep bees in Uganda.

Source: Kaborole Beekeepers’ Association, Uganda.

Tanzania

In Beekeeping & Development 25 we sadly learnt about the death of Dorothy Galton. Our beekeepers will always remember her in their prayers and every time they visit Dorothy Galton Honey Camp at Msonga.

We hope our Lord will reward her in Heaven for her hospitality.

Justin Madaha, Tabora, Tanzania