Swarming occurs throughout the year and does not have a fixed period. The most common time is from September to December.
Problems The lack of working materials in the local market is a serious handicap to the promotion of beekeeping activities. Due to the devaluation of the currency, the cost of imported items has become exorbitant and exceeds the resources of those beekeepers who want to use imported equipment.
Number of beekeepers Unknown
Melliferous vegetation Melliferous plants are abundant throughout the country and particularly in the Plateau Region. Seventy-three melliferous plants were identified during a study in 1991. The major melliferous plants in the northern and central parts of the
A clay hive in Togo
country are Azadirachta indica (neem), Parkia biglobosa (néré), and Vitellaria paradoxa (karité). In the South are: Acacia sp, Citrus sp, Cocos nucifera, Eucalyptus torreliana and Mangifera indica.
Size
Honey production
56,785 km?
Population
The period of harvest is December to April. The average harvest per colony per year is 10 kg.
3,643,000
Research
Location
January 1992 a Centre was created at the University of Benin in Lomé to promote research into indigenous technologies. This Centre studies the eco-ethology of bees in different regions of Togo.
Togo is in West Africa. To the North is Burkina Faso, Benin is to the East and Ghana to the West.
Main agriculture Most people are employed in agriculture. Main crops include cocoa, coffee, copra, cotton, groundnuts, maize and palm kernels.
In
Parkia biglobosa (néré)
Honeybees Apis mellifera adansonii
Beekeeping The collection of honey is a time-honoured activity of honey gatherers in Togo. Traditionally this honey is used in ceremonies and the preparation of medicines. Frame hive beekeeping is only practised by a few individuals scattered here and there throughout the country. Beekeeping is found mostly in the South of the country and in much
of the Central Region.
We are grateful to MrY A Poutouli and Ms Homa Smith for providing the information and
illustrations.
A Bees for Development publication
ELEVEN
