BEEKEEPING
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DEVELOPMENT 48
ARMENIA Non-wood forest products generate 20% of the total revenue of the Forest Service in Armenia. In 1996 just over two tonnes of honey were harvested, generating 6.1% of the income gained from the main agricultural and non-wood forest products from the Forest Service. The largest source of income was from Christmas trees: 19.2% of total income. .
Source:
FAO Non-wood
News, 5, March 1998
BERMUDA The worst problem for the 25 members of the Bermuda Beekeepers’ Association is that every square metre of the island is used for hotel gardens, golf courses and the development of other tourist facilities. Randolph Furbert keeps many of his 400 Langstroth hives on Bermuda’s small islands. Other problems for the bees are ants and two predators, the bird Pitangus sulphuratus and the giant toad Bufo marinus.
JOHN KINROSS
There are two honey flows in the year. The autumn flow is the most productive and is based on the Brazilian pepper tree. Other forage includes banana and paw-paw, and fruit farmers are eager to have hives in their orchards.
Randolph Furbert's “best” hive, May 1998
Providing that nectar-producing forage is grown on the artificial landscapes the future looks bright for (so far) Varroa-free Bermuda. John Kinross
GHANA The Gwira Banso Project is a forestmanagement project that brings together three stake-holders in the timber industry: the farmers on whose lands the trees are harvested, the timber extraction company, and the timber products dealers from Denmark. The project operates within the timber conservation area for Ghana Primewood Products covering 16,600 hectares of land in the tropical rainforest of the western region. The project aims at developing new forms of sustainable natural resource management with active participation of local farmers. There are longterm plans to obtain continuous supplies of timber in addition to the production of nontimber forest products such as honey, beeswax, kola nuts and black pepper.
The project discourages the cultivation of cash crops such as cocoa where forest has been cleared, and encourages the planting of important timber tree species which on maturation are sold to the timber company by the farmers. This increases the farmers’ earnings per planted area. Shade-tolerant crops (kola nuts and black pepper) are
TWELVE
encouraged for intercropping with food crops including cassava, cocoyam and plantain. The farmers are happily being introduced to beekeeping. Many have always been honey hunters but agree on the need to conserve bees through beekeeping. The project co-ordinator, Eddie Prah says that the marketing of the farmers’ produce has been planned, and prompt payment will be made by the buyers. There are plans to build honey buying and processing centres within easy reach of the farmers. Kwame Aidoo,
B&D's
Correspondent in Ghana
KENYA Nyuki Newsletter This is the Bulletin of the National Beekeeping Station. It is an excellent publication full of news and information. Volume II, No 2 brings news of the revitalisation of the Kenya Beekeepers’ Association. The Editor of Nyuki
onan
me Be
no. > 1993
ene bee
Newsletter is
Mr J M Muruiki.
The Beekeeper's Guide Book ‘
het
sare or sou. NATIONAL BEEKEEPENG STATION
&
This book has been produced by the National Beekeeping Station as an informative, technical handbook on apiculture in Kenya. Available from:
National Beekeeping Station, Ministry of Livestock
Development, PO Box 34188, Nairobi, Kenya. A Bees for Development publication
