BEEKEEPING
&
DEVELOPMENT 38
Name
State of Eritrea
Honeybees
Size
123,300 km?
Apis mellifera
3.5 million: 2.7 million living in Population Eritrea, the rest are refugees.
Location Located along the Red Sea, Eritrea is in north-east Africa and includes some 112 islands in the Red Sea. It borders with Sudan on the West and North, Ethiopia on the South and Djibouti on the south-east. Walls of the houses of Tignigna people are built with holes to form entrances for bee hives fitted inside the house. This typical house has a bee hive entrance to the top left of the front door.
After 30 years of armed struggle for the right of self-determination the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) defeated the Fthianian military farerec and actahliched a
provisional government. In April 1993, the Eritrean voters chose independence in an internationally monitored referendum.
Geography Eritrea is classified as arid and semi-arid with four ecological zones: lowland 0-600 m, mid lowland 600-1600 m, mid highland 1600-2400 m, and highland 2400-2800 m above sea level.
Main crops Cotton, maize, millet, sesame and sorghum.
Basic indicators Urban
:
rural ratio
80
:
20
% population under 15
A Tigrigna
beekeeper. Above her ts one of the huge cylindrical bee hives, inside the house
years
50%
yemenitica, the
drought-resistant lowland bee inhabits the western, northwestern and eastern lowlands. Apis mellifera scutellata, the
typical East African bee OCCUTS a
altitudes between 400 and 2700 m above sea level. The beekeepers find this bee highly defensive and
colonies abscond readily especially in the lowlands. In
addition
stingless bees (Trigona spp) are exploited. Bee colonies are sold in the
Average life expectancy
46 years
GDP per capita
75-150USS
Infant Mortality Rate Adult Literacy Rate Population per doctor
20%
Beekeeping history
48,000
Agro-pastoralists
70%
Workers and traders
20%
Pastoralists
9%
Honeybees have been kept by Eritreans for more than 3000 years. During the Axumite period, 3000 BC to 640 AD, honey was traded through the ancient port of Adulis.
Fishermen
1%
135 per 1000 births
capital and in rural markets, mostly during the months of May and September.
The number of honeybee colonies was drastically reduced during the 30 years of war against Ethiopia It is estimated that more than 60% of the bee population was destroyed.
Populations of honeybees are also decreasing because of the great loss of natural resources. In addition honeybees are also killed by agro-chemicals - especially the insecticides used against locusts.
Number of beekeepers Here a beekeeper is adding a second cylindrical hive to an existing smaller one inside the wall. This is added during
flowering periods to give the bees the necessary space to store extra honey. The beekeeper can then harvest the best quality honey from combs newly built in the addedon hive. This technique is like adding supers in frame hive beekeeping.
EIGHT
There are very many beekeepers, most with less than five colonies. Many have a single colony only - but huge traditional commercial bee farms are also found. Bee husbandry is widespread throughout the Eritrean highlands and honey hunting is still found in the lowlands - practised by pastoralists.
A Bees for Development publication
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