BELKEEPING AND DEVEL OPMENT 35
ZOOMING
INON... SOUTH KOREA
Name Area Population
Location Honeybees
Republic of Korea (South) 99,299 kr? 43,663,405 South-east Asia
Apis cerana are the native hive bees and have been cultured in Korea since BC 31. Apis mellifera, the western hive bee, was introduced by a German priest in 1916. After the introduction of Apis mellifera they increased atil they outnumbered the native hive bee, vis cerana. During the 1980s however, the ratio evened out (see Fig 2). South Korea currently imports annually about 37,000 packages of bees from Australia and New Zealand. Honeybee colonies are increasingly used for pollination in glass houses and orchards. They are also destryed by environmental pollutants: insecticide spray and polluted water.
Melliferous vegetation 252 species of honey plants have been identified.
Honey production Total annual production: 10,000 tonnes Most (80%) is black locust Robinia pseudacacia honey. Honey flow: 5 May - 5 June. The beekeepers move into the mountains during the second
Roya! jelly
;
Total annual harvest: 26 tonnes
Pollen Total annual harvest: 159 tonnes
Honeybee diseases, pests and predators The predatory mite Tropilaelaps clareae has been introduced from China, and Melittiphis alvearius from New Zealand with imported package bees. American foulbrood, chalk brood, European foulbrood, nosema, sacbrood, Varroa jacobsoni and Varroa underwoodi are also present.
Beekeeping Association The Korean Beekeeping Association has over 4000 members and employs a staff of 17. Korean Beekeeping Association, Mr Ki-Tae Cho, 301 Sambo Bldg, Chonglo 6-Ga, Chonglo-Ku, Seoul, 110 126
Korean beekeepers mave their colonies in
migratory beekeeping They ofter live in tents alongside the hives
AAA Chapter
Dr Kun-Suk Woo, Institute of Korea Beekeeping Science, College of Agriculture and Life Science, Seou! National University, Suwon 440 744 Mr Ki-Tae Cho, Korean Beekeeping Association, 301 Sambo Bldg, Chonglo 6-Ga, Chonglo-Ku, Seoul, 110 126 Mr Woo-Suk Ahn, Cheju Branch, Korean Beekeeping Association, Sambo, 2-dong 1024, Cheju, 690 032
Research Institute of Korea Beekeeping Science, College of Agriculture, Seoul National University, Suwon 440 744. Department of Agricultural Biology, Chung-Nam National University, Taejon 305 764.
Journals The Korean Beekeeping Association publishes monthly newsletter.
a
We are grateful to Dr Young-Duck Chang and Mr John Hamilton for their help in producing this article
A traditional
Korean log hive for
Apis
cerana
two weeks.
Honey marketing Honey is considered to be
1.
A Bees for Development publication
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Fig 2. The changing numbers of oriental Apis cerana colonies and western Apis
mellifera colonies 1954-
1992
health food rather than an everyday food to eat like jam. Honey is well marketed in ‘Harubang’ honey pots - shaped to look like the stone grandfathers who guard the entrances to villages. a
0030
BONN
Changes in numbers of beekeepers and honeybee
NUMBER OF TOTAL COLONIES.
Fig
——O——
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2 OF HONEYBEE COLONIES
Beekeeping There are 300 beekeepers on Cheju Island. yeju Island is famous for oilseed rape honey .wchegul, but actually the amount of oilseed rape planted is declining so most of the honey sold is delicious mixed flower honey Chaphuagul. Tangerine honey Milgamgul is equally delicious. All of South Korea’s tangerines are grown on the south side of Cheju Island. Pollination of tangerines by bees is very important. There is also chestnut Castanea pubinervis honey. The smell is unpleasant and would not be marketable in other countries, but in Korea Dong wi po gam, a famous medical book, says this chestnut honey is good for digestion. In the rice fields of Cholla, honey from milk vetch Astragalus sinicus is harvested. The centre of beekeeping on the Korean Peninsula is Taegu City.
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