Zooming in on Albania

Where is Albania..?

In Eastern Europe with coastline on the Adriatic and lonian seas. Borders with Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.

Size

28,748 km ²

How many people live there?

Three million

Recent history

For too much of its history Albania has been used as pawn in other countries’ games of chess. Nevertheless, Albanians have never been subdued and retain their own language and strong cultural identity. The end of communism has brought period of s change. Some of this has been on a catastrophic scale with Albania losing her vital resources, including people.

Currency

Lek

Main agriculture

Farming systems have broken down following decollectivisation. Main crops include maize, pulses, sunflowers, fruits and vegetables.

What is it like?

Much of the country is wild and mountainous. Sadly the extensive forests that used to cover these mountains have been cleared in recent years.

What is the climate?

Temperate

Which honeybees?

Apis mellifera

Number of beekeepers

About 5000

Number of honeybee colonies?

85,000

Bee forage

The herbaceous plants and woody perennials found in the mountains are known for their excellence for beekeeping, and forage for bees is therefore good.

Flowering period

There are many different periods of nectar flow throughout the country, and beekeepers are able to provide ten months of forage for bees by moving them from one area to another as forage comes successively into flower.

Beekeeping equipment

Traditional beekeeping. Traditional styles of hives include wooden boxes and baskets.

Frame hive beekeeping

Most beekeepers in Albania keep between 11 and 30 colonies in frame hives, similar in design to the Langstroth hive. A small amount of equipment is made in Albania but most is imported from Italy and neighbouring countries. It is difficult to obtain the embossed beeswax sheets known as foundation. Some beekeepers have the presses necessary to make this foundation, but lack of co-ordination means that these are not accessible throughout the country.

Honey is harvested from combs soon after it is stored by bees and supering (adding further boxes) is not always practised because equipment is in short supply.

Honey production

Between 800 and 1000 tonnes per annum.

Honey production per colony

Traditional hives yield 5-10 kg of honey per year, and also some wax. Annual honey harvests from frame hives can be over 30 kg per colony. one beekeeper claims yields of 70 kg. 12 kg per colony per year can be assumed as typical annual harvest.

Marketing

Beekeepers do not have access to containers or labels, and have little possibility to market honey well. The Bulgarian and Romanian honey on sale in Albania is attractively packaged and sells at a lower price than local honey.

There is great scope to assist Albanian beekeepers by making the material for marketing available.

Any honeybee pests and diseases?

Albanian beekeepers all control Varroa jacobsoni mites using fluvalinate, either in the form of impregnated strips placed in the hive, or in a more concentrated liquid form.

A market has developed selling strips at a relatively high price and this in turn encourages beekeepers to misuse them in a way that will encourage fast development of mite resistance. The cost of buying these strips is one of the major recurrent costs for beekeepers, making their work less economic than it could be.

Chalkbrood is a serious disease for bees in Albania, but it need not be so. Hives are often over-insulated in winter, with little ventilation, and these are just the conditions to encourage chalkbrood. Technical assistance could help to alleviate this problem. American foulbrood is also present.

Other problems for beekeepers

The presence of the many pesticides used extensively in Albania.

Projects

Since 1992 several organisations have offered assistance to beekeeping in Albania. These include FAO, GTZ, VOCA and The Plunkett Foundation (see next page).

Beekeepers’ Association

The Rural Associations Support Programme (RASP) is being supported by The Plunkett Foundation to assist development of the Albania Beekeepers’ Association. Recently the first edition of new magazine Bleta Shendeti (Bees & Health) was published. Further details from RASP, Kutia Postare 2415/1, Tirané, Albania. The Beekeepers’ Association is providing extension support to beekeepers through regional meetings and distribution of the magazine.

Government support

Until recently there existed a Government Station near Tirané with responsibility for Apiculture and Sericulture. This Station merged with the Veterinarian Research Institute in December 1996.

At the Agriculture University of Tirané students studying animal production receive lectures in apiculture.

More information

http://www.AlbanianNews.com

Acknowledgements

Information in this feature was kindly provided by Dr Selim Dedej, Adriatik Likcani and Dr Kristaq Thomo and many beekeepers in Albania.