BEERKERPING
&
DEVELOPMENT
32
AUSTRALIA With the advent of the Asian honeybee Apis cerana on the northern most islands in
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CHRIS
TAME‘:
Torres Strait, the Australian Honeybee Research and Development Council has been asked to fund a project to isolate the Nasanov pheromone from Apis cerana. If this is possible, then the Australian Quarantine and Inspections Service could use it in their monitoring programme in an attempt to minimise the southern movement of Derek Sherratt (see Namibia).
Apis cerana. Honeybee Research and Development Council Update
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bl ANE
BENIN
Committee of the Benin National Beekeepers Association.
Following the recommendation of the Beekeepers’ Association of West Africa that each member country should form, revive or consolidate their national beekeeping association, the Benin National Beekeepers’ Association is born. The first Beekeeping Training Seminar has been held in Bohicon, in the central region of Benin. Traditional and modern beekeepers, technical officers from different extension services, university teachers and business persons were invited by the Minister for Rural Development to participate in the Seminar on beekeeping
development. Displays prepared by Mr Soude C Flavien, a private beekeeper, and Mr Kokoye S Jean from the beekeeping project of Atacora (partly financed by GTZ) gave a beautiful insight for the audience, as well as being
educational. Everyone participated in a study tour to a private apiary at Tobé in the Banté District, 200 km from Cotonou. Fruitful discussions and exchange of ideas and experience enhanced the quality of the Seminar. In the same way the field trip benefited the participants and encouraged them to promote the beekeeping industry.
APICULTURAL ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE As we go to press the Second AAA Conference will be taking place in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia. News and pictures of the Conference will be in the next edition of Beekeeping & Development.
At the end of the Seminar, the beekeepers elected the Executive Committee of the Benin National Beekeepers’ Association which will be a non-government body, as soon as its constitution is registered in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Soude C Flavien
Mr Kwame Aidoo of the Beekeeping
Development Unit, Saltpond, explained to participants some of his findings on top-bar hive design, and hives built with cheap and locally available materials were exhibited. Mr John Yeboah, a World Vision Agricultural Extension Officer, emphasised the need for groups to manage their colonies in apiaries of several hives rather than the existing practice where hives are scattered over a wide area. The World Vision Beekeeping Project started two years ago with eight farming communities. Group members were given basic training in beekeeping and then equipped with a minimum of six hives and equipment. Members of each group are entitled to two-thirds of the harvest and one third is used to support other development activities within the community. All input for the project is provided by World Vision International as assistance to the communities. It was reported that effective monitoring and supervision have led to a successful take-off of this project. Kwame Aidoo - Beekeeping &
Development's
Ghana Correspondent
GRENADA Varroa has arrived in Grenada. Two months ago found varroa'mites infesting colonies in the biggest Grenadian apiary. This explains the dramatic decrease in honey yields we experienced in 1993 and so far in 1994. This decrease could possibly be the result of viruses of which varroa acts as a vector. No great colony mortality has been reported yet, but some of us are expecting a change in this respect also. |
it really feels like a “paradise lost” -
GHANA
keep you posted.
A two-day Workshop for farmers was organised at Goamoa Mampong in April 1994. The participants came from World Vision International sponsored beekeeping projects in eight farming communities in the Central Region. Each project was represented by three members who would act as facilitators of the knowledge acquired at the Workshop.
jorge Murillo Yepes
|
will
Beekeeping & Development's Caribbean Correspondent -
NAMIBIA WATCH OUT! Reading this journal can change your life! Reading through Beekeeping & Development last December, Derek Sherratt saw the advert for
A
Bees for Development publication
