Bees for Development Journal
NEWS AROUND THE WORLD
NEWS AROUND THE WORLD BELARUS Our meeting held in December 2002
in Minsk was attended by more then 100 beekeepers, bee researchers and business people. Participants discussed the problems of bee diseases, unfavourable weather conditions and environmental pollution. An outcome of the meeting was the establishment of 'Byelorussian bees’ - Minsk Beekeepers’ Club. Statutes were accepted, a Board appointed and Kamenkov Vladimir elected as President. Byelorussian Bees exists to: — promote the craft of beekeeping; ~ improve the relationships of professional and amateur beekeepers, young and old; stimulate private enterprise and democratic institutions; — develop and promote good bee management systems;
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train and inform Minsk beekeepers and involve young people in apiculture; select for the good qualities of indigenous bees;
support research into bee health management; liaise with relevant government departments;
establish international contacts and correspond with beekeepers around the world; To date Byelorussian Bees has taken part in ‘Inter honey 2003' in Moscow, Russia and ‘Polish beekeeping days Pszczela Wola bee freedom’ in Lublin, Poland. —
Our next step
is to unite beekeeping organisations throughout Belarus to initiate a Republican Beekeepers' Association, and in connection with this we hope to form partnerships with beekeepers from other countries. Serge Verheichik Vice-President of Byelorussian Bees, Minsk
BRAZIL Indigenous communities in Mato Grosso in the Xingu region are harvesting and processing honey which is now being sold outside the State. The communities currently market 1,500 kg of honey per month and production is increasing. In July, a shipment of honey was sent fo three SGo Paulo supermarkets. The producers are in negotiation with the Pao de Acgucar supermarket chain (with shops in twelve states of Brazil): a deal could open the door to the international market. This honey has strong commercial appeal as it is produced by Indians and has organic certification from the Biodynamic Institute. The Certificate is awarded only to products from sustainable practices that do not harm the environment. The honey is the first indigenous product to receive a Federal Inspection Seal from the Ministry of Agriculture, which means it is produced in accordance with health and safety legislation. The Seal authorises sale of the honey in other states. Source: Amazon News, 17 July 2003, (newsletter@amazonia.org.br)
DR CONGO Zébédée Lusambya Lubinda sent in this photograph of members from Actions de Charité pour le Développement et la Réadaptation des Handicapes who practise beekeeping in Fizi District, South-Kivu Province. The group recently started receiving Bees for Development Journal thanks to Bees for Development Trust sponsorship.
MEXICO Coffee to honey = profits Miguel Pérez gave up on coffee seven years ago. Like other small growers in Xaquild, a rural hamlet in the state of Chiapas, he was finding it harder and harder to make a living with this traditional crop, trading at some of the lowest prices for a century. So Miguel decided to try honey production. "It is less back-breaking than growing coffee, because bees do most of the work for you," he points out. Many of his fellow members of Productores Agropecuarios de la Selva Lacandona, a co-operative based in Ocosingo, in the highlands of Chiapas, followed a similar path. Starting with a few hives obtained through a government programme in 1992, the co-operative grew to have 1,700 active colonies within seven years. The co-operative members built a storage shed by pocling some subsidies and giving in eight days of labour per member. Despite these efforts, most of the co-operative's members were only just getting by. Bad weather and diseases sapped output. The co-operative lacked vehicles to pick up honey in remote areas, and equipment to properly filter the product. Worst of all, the co-operative never had enough cash available to make advance payments to its members. As a consequence, most members had to sell to ‘coyotes’ - itinerant intermediary traders who pay farmers a fraction of what they should receive for their crops. The beekeepers heard about loans offered by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which had launched a programme to help organisations in marginal areas of southeast Mexico. The co-operative fitted the basic requirements of the programme: established for over three years and with members in 30 rural communities in Chiapas, the poorest state in Mexico and almost all of them belonging to indigenous groups. They had a potentially profitable product, but lacked the financial and technical means to extract more value from their honey. After applying to the programme, the co-operative started working with an IDB team to develop a four-year plan to increase output and productivity. In January 1999 they signed an agreement for a ten year, US$490,000 soft loan that would help them buy 3,000 new hives and equipment to raise queen bees. The loan allowed them also to make improvements to their storage plant and equip it with sanitary filtration and homogenisation vats.
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