BEEKEEPING & DEVELOPMENT 49
BOTSWANA Beekeeping in Botswana: on the up!
Bernhard Clauss worked in Botswana with the German Volunteer Service. The result is the excellent “Beekeeping Handbook”, a perfect text for people who want to start beekeeping with simple equipment. The Beekeeping Unit has regularly produced updates of the Handbook available from
Bees for Development for
7.75.
In 1976 the German Volunteer Service began teaching beekeeping to remote area dwellers in Botswana, as a way of supplementing diet and generating income. The Beekeeping Unit was established in 1980 within the women’s extension section of the Ministry of Agriculture. The aim was to assist women to generate income through honey and beeswax sales and to secure bee products for household use. In 1981] a countrywide extension service began operating and in 1991 an introduced agricultural policy encouraging non-farming activities enhanced the role of beekeeping. Currently the Unit has 14 beekeeping officers, nine of whom are women.
During dry weather beekeepers are forced to feed their colonies. Some farmers do not have funds available to buy food for their bees and again colonies abscond. To counter this problem the Beekeeping Unit is advocating the planting of melliferous plants, especially those which flower in winter and are
HAITI
There is no problem with marketing bee products within Botswana as supply is lower than demand. Batswana prefer comb honey to liquid honey, so beeswax production remains low. The small amount of wax harvested is used for baiting hives and in batik.
COSEVO (Co-operative for Animal Production and Veterinary Services) helps beekeeping associations by providing assistance for honey production in the north-east regio Haiti, one of the poorest areas in the
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Compared with other agricultural projects this is a new venture and the take-up rate is still low;
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Ashortage of qualified personnel means depending on agricultural extension staff to do all the work;
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Extension areas are big and transport problems add to a low level of follow-up to farmers to assist in management. The result is a high level of honeybee colonies absconding due to pests, predators, drought and vandalism;
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drought-resistant.
The Government now operates schemes to assist farmers in establishing apiaries and purchasing beekeeping equipment. Beekeeping is taught in primary and secondary schools.
There have been many successes but still the beekeeping project has faced setbacks:
Noah's hive plastered with a cowdung and clay mixture. Entrance holes are made during plastering by inserting sticks
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Khaliso Kepaletswe, Agricultural Scientific Officer
country.
The demand for assistance is always increasing and the constraints for honey production are numerous. To provide heip in a more organised way a project covering the area has been conceived. The objectives of the project are: ®@
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increased honey production in the area;
support for environmental protection by the promotion of beekeeping; reduction of poverty.
Future activities include: forming more beekeepers’ associations;
initiating a credit system for beekeeping activities; creating a central shop to make beekeeping materials available;
establishing a small unit for the collection and processing of honey; assisting in the distribution and exportation of honey and wax produced in the region. “We plan to implement this project over two years and require a budget of about USS420,000. We would be thankful for any assistance", writes Dr Audalbert Bien-Aimé, President of COSEVO,
178 rue Alerte, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
INDIA KHALISO KEPALESTWE
Rendering beeswax from deserted combs of Apis dorsata bees A very tall Syzygium
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cumni skeels tree in deep forest about 50 km from Wardha (Maharashtra) is home to between 145 and 175 Apis dorsata colonies every year. Honey hunters have permission from the
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A Bees for Development publication
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