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REVIVAL OF AP/S CERANA POPULATIONS
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THE HIMALAYAS
by Faroog Ahmad, Anirudha N Shukla, Uma Partap, Surendra R Joshi and Min B Gurung .
This is the sixth article in the series bringing news about the work of the Austrian Government funded beekeeping project at ICIMOD in Kathmandu, Nepal. ICIMOD and
Austroprojekt GmbH in Vienna, Austria jointly manage the project. In BfD 62 we told you about women and beekeeping in Nepal. Here we tell you about our success in
reviving Apis cerana beekeeping in mountain areas of India and Pakistan. Ten years ago it was reported that the indigenous hive bee Apis cerana had all but disappeared in Pakistan and could be found only in a few villages
The disappearance of this bee, and of the services it provided in terms of pollination, was a matter of concern for ail bee in the north of the country.
people. (The advantages of Apis cerana particularly for pollination of plants and early
flowering crops in high mountain areas were described in BfD 58). The disappearance of Apis cerana was attributed in part to the effects of Thai sacbrood virus, to government policies, and to the lack of promotion by state agencies
and NGOs. But the Pakistani beekeepers themselves were equally responsible; few people thought of bees except in terms of honey, and
most beekeepers preferred Apis mellifera as it could be managed to produce more honey. Until 1980 Apis mellifera was little known in Pakistan
more honey and have the characteristics preferred for domestic management.
The expertise of Apis cerana technicians was streamlined into the development efforts;
gender-balanced training programmes are now being organised to support the extension efforts
at community level.
The beekeepers
in north Pakistan, the gene
pool area of Apis cerana, have been happy to
see the change in the focus of policy and development efforts at HBRI. Some have realised the advantages of keeping Apis cerana as a ‘stationary’ bee in addition to migratory hives with Apis mellifera, and farmers have
again started to keep bees to help their crops and boost income.
The Apis cerana programme is now so strong that it not only supports the provincial
and beekeepers kept Apis cerana: within ten years, the species had been almost forgotten!
programmes of beekeeping but also provides expertise and technical backstopping to
The Indigenous Honeybee Project at ICIMOD
ICIMOD’s Indigenous Honeybee Project.
embarked on a process of encouraging all stakeholders — beekeepers, government agencies, extension workers
—
to refocus on the indigenous
hive bee. The Project joined with the Honeybee Research Institute (HBRI) of Pakistan to carry out research on the population status of Apis cerana and introduce development interventions for its promotion. The results have been impressive:
Government policies were re-vised and promotional efforts for Apis cerana intensified. An Apis cerana selection programme focusing on action research was initiated at HBRI with the aim of selecting Apis cerana that produce
Apis cerana bees can now be seen in many parts of north Pakistan. They are clearly visible on flowers, where, slowly, they are even
outnumbering Apis mellifera. Farmers report that log and wall hives are being reoccupied. This underlines the extraordinary strength of
this bee species, which can maintain itself under difficult circumstances and returns to previously inhabited areas naturally as soon as conditions are favourable. Independent of the development efforts, it seems that Apis cerana is recovering from the pressures associated with the introduction of Apis mellifera and the use of pesticides. There has been similar success in the hills of Himachal
Pradesh, India, where our partner institution, Dr YS Parmar University of
Horticulture and Forestry, is focusing on promoting
Apis cerana for pollination and biodiversity conservation, even where
Apis mellifera is kept for honey production.
Beekeepers, apple growers, and extension workers are being trained in the management of Apis cerana and its role in pollination and as a means of
income-generation.
A Bees for Development publication
These efforts are supported by an ongoing selection programme, which includes an action research component. Already, the benefits are showing. There has been an increase in the quality of apples and the bees have helped in
activating the replenishment cycle. Seeing the results, farmers are now motivated to use integrated pollination management as a tool for improving ‘eco-services’ and enhancing
agricultural production, particularly of apples. While development efforts are being carried out, the species itself is contributing greatly to the expansion of its area of influence.
The experiences
in Pakistan and India
show the
huge benefits and vitality of using a partnership approach to conserve biodiversity and improve rural livelihoods. ICIMOD is now replicating these
efforts with other partners in Bhutan, China
and Nepal.
