Bees for Development Journal 64
TINGKU - A TRADITIONAL MANAGEMENT TECHNIQI by Soesilawati Hadisoesilo, Forest and Nature Conservation Research and Development, Indonesia The giant honeybee Apis dorsata is one of Indonesia’s indigenous honeybee species. It is distributed widely over the Indonesian archipelagoes excluding the Mollucas and West Papua. Attempts to manage Apis dorsata in ways used for the cavity-nesting honeybees always fail.! However, in some parts of Indonesia local techniques are used to manage Apis dorsata colonies so that honey harvest is easier. This technique is similar to ‘rafter beekeeping’ in Vietnam. In the Poso District of Sulawesi this technique is called tingku, in the islands of Bangka and Belitung it is called sunggau, and at Sentarum Lake this technique is called tikung.
TRADITIONAL HONEY COLLECTION FROM APIS DORSATA BINGHAMI North Pamona sub-district is one of the largest honey producing areas in Sulawesi. Collection from Apis dorsata binghami is from nests hanging under branches of big trees, which are mostly located in primary forest away from villages. The height of the nest is 10-20 m above the ground. Although nobody owns the tree where the bees nest and therefore anyone could harvest any nest, a mark is sometimes made on a tree to signify ownership.
HOW TO MAKE A TINGKU A tingku is made of a roughly planed wood plank, or a tree trunk. The lengths of the planks vary between 2.0 and 3.5 m, with
widths of 10-25 cm, or 10-20 cm diameter for tree trunks. According to the honey collectors, wood 3-10 cm thick is strong enough
Harvesting takes place in the day and involves one to four people, without ceremony. One person climbs the tree and drives the bees off the nest using a traditional smoker. Once the bees have left the nest, the entire comb is cut and squeezed to extract the honey. This collection method is dangerous and the long distance from the villages means the honey collectors have to stay out overnight.
to support the honeybees’ nest.
Apis dorsata binghami does not appear to be selective concerning the type of wood for its nesting site, however, because a tingku is permanently built, honey collectors prefer to make a tingku from strong wood such as kayu kondongio
(Dysoxylum densiflorum), kayu kolahi (Fagraea fragrans) or kayu ampuni (Cycas sp) which last for 10-20 years. Some honey collectors use the branch of
WHAT IS A TINGKU? In Poso saw 66 tingku in five villages. My observations were at the start of the flowering season when only six tingku were occupied, 33 had been occupied previously, and 27 tingku were empty. interviewed 17 honey collectors. |
Pterocarpus indicus for making a tingku because this branch will sprout, grow and become
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A tingku can be defined as a man-made micro-habitat or nest support for Apis dorsata binghami, designed to make honey harvest easier for the honey hunter. It is the only traditional management tool for Apis dorsata that is erected without any support from poles on the ground or branches of trees, as with rafter, sunggau, or tikung techniques. The technology originated at the village of Kelei in the 1930s and has since spread to five neighbouring villages. Oo
A Bees for Development publication
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