4
CHILE
Bolivia is a landlocked country in the middle of South America. The majority of the population used to live in the Andean altiplano but with closure of silver and tin mines the tropical sector -is now the fastest growing region. There are large, wild parklands set aside with debt-for‘nature monies for natural resource conservation offering a great potential for beekeeping. considered an Andes country but two thirds of the geography is tropical. There are three major climatic types. 1s
foulbrood has not been imported into the country. Varroa mites are present but few beekeepers have had to use control measures, as the numbers of mites remain low and not destructive.
SIZE
HONEYBEE PRODUCTS
1,100,000 km’
inhabitants each, one in each region: La Paz the world’s highest capital at 3600 m, Cochabamba, a front range city in a large intermountain valley at 2560 m, and Santa Cruz (420 m) the largest city and most rapidly growing region in the Bolivian tropics
AGRICULTURE little exportation of agricultural goods with most farming at subsistence level The tropical region has large cattle growing ranches and some culttvation of
There
1s
cotton, rice, soya beans and sunflowers Coca Is grown legally for consumption of the whole leaves for altitude endurance by higher elevation inhabitants Leaves are smuggled to Colombia and Peru with some processing into coca paste for international cocaine markets In the
Highlands grains and potatoes are grown, and ‘lama (and relatives) and sheep plus chinchilla are kept.
HONEYBEES Early imports of European Apis meliifera were from Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Africanised honeybees Apis mellifera scutellata arrived in the tropical lowlands in 1967 and have spread throughout the entire country Bees at higher elevations are more manageable than those in tropical regions. Swarms and feral colonies are more common in the humid tropical regions than in the dryer southern grasslands and Intermountain valleys of the Andes. There are few bees at higher elevations of the
Andes Mountains
MELLIFEROUS VEGETATION The tropical region and front mountain range of the Andes are extremely varied in the flora available for bees that forage throughout the year There is some sunflower pollination by bees with the potential for their loss due to pesticide poisoning Intermountain valleys have an extremely short 2-3 month flowering season of varied flora
(introduced weeds and indigenous varieties) when the rains manage to get over the mountains In the 1980s
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Non-Africanised queens do poorly alongside Africanised queens and therefore the importation of queens mentioned above has largely ceased Luckily (so far) Amencan
wet The high mountain valleys of the western slope are subtropical to temperate (depending upon altitude) with a short intense spring when the rains reach over the mountains
POPULATION
oN
HONEYBEE DISEASES AND PESTS
on the north and
extremely wet and humid The south, bordering Paraguay and Argentina, is drier grasslands (//ano) In between, the eastern frontal range of the Andes 1s extremely 1s
6.5 million with three major cities over one million
ARGENTINA
|
to Bolivia.
country bordering western Argentina, Chile and Peru is very high and dry much of the year with permanent snow above
5000 m. The tropical region borders Brazil
“S
a
The Andes mountain aitiplano of the western third of the
east and
PARAGUAY |
connecting North Carolina beekeepers with those in Cochabamba Florida beekeepers supported the Santa Cruz beekeepers for number of years shipping Florida reared queens and sending Langstroth bee equipment
CLIMATE Bolivia
*.
Beekeepers in the tropical regions around Santa Cruz manage 1000-2000 colonies (before Africanisation this number exceeded 5000 colonies) with an active beekeepers’ association that conducts a honey festival each year. There are large numbers of beekeepers keeping small numbers of colontes in the rest of the tropical region and in the two coca growing regions of the front range of the Andes (Chapare region between Santa Cruz and Cochabamba and Yungas region between tropical north Bolivia and La Paz). From 4000-5000 colonies are in Cochabamba valley and smaller numbers in other high valleys (such as Mizque) are kept in both Langstroth and local hives. About 1500 colonies migrate from Cochabamba to Chapare at the end of the flowering season in the high valleys. There are very few feral or managed colonies in La Paz or the altiplano region
BEEKEEPING EQUIPMENT
Several companies in Cochabamba and La Paz export pollen and other bee products of medicinal value to Asia: these products remain free of major pollutant chernicals found in other countries. Honey consumption within Bolivia IS quite low and markets have been relatively easy to develop for quality products There Is strong competition from bee products produced in Argentina and Brazil.
TRAINING Beekeeping ts taught at Universities in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz. Development projects often employ a technician who helps beekeepers participating in the project and who manages the central honey extracting facility The author describes this type of project for the Mizque valley in Reference 3 Two manuals are available for beginners (references
1
and 2)
Information and illustiations provided by Dewey M Curot
Equipment supplies are mostly imported although Langstroth hives and frames are made in Santa Cruz and Cochabamba Foundation Is imported from Brazil since the bees need the smaller Africanised bee size cell bases
BEEKEEPING PROJECTS A number of foreign agencies including CIDA (Canada), EU agencies for example GTZ (Germany), FAO and USAID currently have beekeeping development projects in Bolivia Bolivia ts the largest American continent recipient of USA foreign aid and there is a major Alternatives Programme designed to train campesinos (subsistence farmers) to abandon coca cultivation and cultivate alternatives beekeeping ts an alternative component! EU and FAO funding also supports this approach. Most of the projects are in the Chapare and Yungas regions There are several NGOs working with communities throughout the country with active beekeeping projects Japanese and US Peace Corps and Caritas, the Catholic Church Development Agency, support small but active projects Farmer-to-Farmer (USA) supports a beekeeping project In Cochabamba
ak ain, mK
Professor of Botany Noel Kempff Mercardo prepared a ‘floral guide and annual management scheme based on flowenng in the tropical areas before he was accidentally killed when he wandered too close to a jungle cocaine ‘factory’ whilst looking for bee flora There 1s a large National Park dedicated to his memory in remote tropical
eastern Bolivia along the border with Brazil
BEEKEEPING As the number of swarms and feral colonies has
A Bees for Development publication
8
Increased following Africanisation, honey hunting and harvesting of bee trees and local hives has been Increasing, especially in rural areas
