BEEKEEPING
&
DEVELOPMENT
28
WARWICK KERR
ANSWERS
ONE WORLD,
Warwick Kerr
ONE VILLAGE,
African bees
ONE BEEKEEPER our world were a village of 1000 people, what would its
Well, in the village there would be: 583 Asians 113 103
Africans
Europeans
83 North Americans
at Uberlandia
to the
Americas. In 1956 he visited
honey crops yielded by African bees and encouraged
My 70th birthday was celebrated by the beekeepers of Rio de Janeiro (a Conference with about 120 people), by my students,
to
bring back 100 African queen
honeybees, hopefully to improve honey production in
Brazil. He brought 63 live queens (from Southern Africa and Tanzania) back to Sado Paulo and these were used to head colonies. Swarms of 26 of these colonies
escaped in 1957.
During
the subsequent
36 years
descendants of these bees have spread through all of
South and Central America, arriving in the USA in 1990. In subsequent years Professor Kerr has worked incessantly in assisting Brazilian beekeepers, and in furthering the cause of ecology.
58 from Soviet Republics 55 South Americans 5
from Oceania
and there would be: 333 Christians 16] Muslims 159 Hindus
86 Buddhists 56 Confucists
Shintoists
11
7
Taoists
6 jewish
PES QUISAS COM ABELHA® NO|BRASIL BRA ZILIAN BEE
.
RESE ARCH This is ala rge compendil mof information about bee research in Brazil up to June 1992. It has been co
181
without any religion, or atheist.
Of these [000 people: 60 would receive half the
total income 500 would be short of food
600 would live in shanty
towns |
700 would be illiterate
|
And who is providing honey for this village of 1000
people?
Just |
SIX
1
beekeeper!
colleagues, beekeepers at Rio Claro (an “Encounter” with 400 people) and at Ribeirdo Preto (a Meeting of 250 people), by my students and geneticists at Sao Luis (a Congress with 150 persons), a one day Symposium at Jaboticabal (150 persons), a “Happy Birthday to you” in Vitoria, Argentina (Apiculture Week) and a three day seminar by my students of Biology and Agronomy here at Uberlandia. This set of homages was the most touching event in my life. The sight of my old students, now important professors, directors, business people, one protestant pastor, one catholic priest, one nun, beekeepers, farmers, all mixed up with my present young students - this was all very emotional. Brazil needs good and competent professors, and as a plan for my life decided to move to many places, the poorer the better, and this was my life trajectory: Piracicaba (1946-1958): Rio Claro (1959-1962); Sdo Paulo (1962-1964), Ribeirao Preto (1965-1981), Manaus (19751979), Sao Luis (1981-1988) and Uberlandia (1988 to present). Besides this have visited 37 tribes of South American Indians, 98 countries, and all the states of Brazil. As Florence, my daughter, put it on the morning of my birthday, “Congratulations Daddy, for such a life well lived”. |
piled by
Ademilson E E Soares and David De Jong and published in honour of Warwick Kerr's 70th birthday. It is very useful document: it lists the centres of bee research in Brazil, gives the abstracts of research theses, and provides a a
and
Professor Kerr, Brazilian beekeepers fave organised a scientific meeting in your honour and to celebrate 1.
your 70th birthday. How do you feel looking back at your career?
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|
Question
Africa, intending to study stingless bees. The Minister of Agriculture had heard tell of the good
Warwick Kerr
If
ethnic and religious composition be?
is Professor of Genetics
University in Brazil. He is the man who introduced
bibliography of all literature published by Brazilian bee researchers and those foreigners who have done extensive work in Brazil. All of the text within this single volume is provided in both Portuguese and English. This publication was a very good idea: the information given will help researchers to contact one another, and to find out quickly what has already been done. The book reveals what a great amount of work has been completed in Brazil: it certainly is a tribute to Professor Kerr and indeed to the whole of the Brazilian bee research community. For copies of this book please contact: Departamento de Genética, Faculdade de
Medicina de Ribeiro Preto, USP 14.049-900, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil.
I
2. How did you first become interested in bees?
At the age of eight, in 1930, when the first swarm of Apis mellifera arrived in the village where lived, 60 km West of Sdo Paulo. My father put the swarm in a box (with no frames in) and for three years we had honey from it. In 1934 became interested |
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in stingless bees.
