News

COLOMBIA

Comunidad Por Los Niños has started an apiculture project which is now flourishing in many regions of Colombia, with all the joys and hardships of working with the Africanized bee. Africanized bees have reached virtually all areas of Colombia and provide a readily available and free source of bees for hives. The project is funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the University of Guelph. Materials (5 Kenya top-bar hives, overall, gloves, veil and smoker) are loaned, without interest, to beekeepers for a two year period. At present there are about 150 hives distributed in the coastal region of Antioquia and another 150 in the mountainous inner region of Antioquia. The climate changes drastically and thus each area has its own idiosyncrasies and problems. Unfortunately the fame of the “killer bee” has preceded the work of the project, and preformed opinions are hard to dispel. Since resources are limited, the area of work is restricted to the geographical region easily accessible to the two people working on the bees project. Enquiries have been received from many interested communities who are situated too far distant to be accessible to the project.

(Mr Car! Lowenberger, Communidad por los niños.)

INDIA

Sac brood in Apis cerana

Himachal Pradesh: Apis cerana colonies in northern India are badly affected by sac brood disease. This viral infection does not cause much harm to Apis mellifera colonies but great losses have been reported to native Apis cerana colonies. In the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, about 50 colonies of Apis cerana owned by the state horticulture department died of this disease during last winter and spring. This disease was first reported in India from Assam and Neghalaya in 1981 and is now spreading to other states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. So far the disease has not been reported from the Kashmir valley, where beekeeping with Apis cerana is widespread. Earlier, the disease was reported from Thailand, and it was not present in India in the native bee species prior to the introduction of Apis mellifera.

More than 90% of colonies affected by this disease tend to abscond resulting in mixing of queens or complete loss of colonies.

(Dr L. R. Verma)

Patiala: Beekeeping has become a viable economic proposition in Punjab and has the potential of becoming a source of stable income for educated rural youth. For example, Mr Kulwant Singh, a young beekeeper, says that he had the training to manage more colonies [of Apis mellifera] but at first he had insufficient funds. For setting up a colony an investment of Rs 500 is needed-banks would not agree to lend him the money as they did not consider beekeeping a bankable project. To meet running expenses he had to sell his 17 colonies for Rs 5800 in the first year and 27 colonics for Rs 6500 in the following year. “‘And this was the most painful act of my life’ says Mr Kulwant Singh with tears in his eyes. ‘“No farmer would part with colonies and slash his breeding programme like this”. Now Mr Singh receives advances from business men who want to be assured of the supply of honey, and receipts from the sale of honey are sufficient to meet the recurring expenses and take care of his colony multiplication programme.

(The Tribune, 17 June)

JAMAICA

The Plant Protection Division of the Ministry of Agriculture recently discovered an outbreak of American foulbrood disease of bees in certain areas of Kingston. In the past, Jamaica has had four outbreaks of American foulbrood disease. The first three in 1918, 1926 and 1935, all occurred within the old Corporate Area of Kingston. The fourth, in 1943, was much more serious, not only within the Corporate Area, but spreading also to St Thomas, St Catherine, Manchester and St Elizabeth. During the first outbreak, all hives (1719) within a three mile radius of Kingston Parish Church, whether infected or not, were burnt in two huge fires on Kingston Race Course. In the other outbreak only infected and suspected colonies were burnt. Thus in 1943, 1710 colonies were burnt. As far as is known there has been no recurrence of the disease since 1944 until this recent outbreak.

The Ministry of Agriculture has instituted an Island-wide survey and inspection of all apiaries to determine the distribution of the disease. If the disease is localized then it can be confined and eradicated by methods of total destruction within the prescribed area. If however it is widespread, such measures would be ineffective and other control methods, such as drugs, would have to be applied.

(Source: Mr L. Church; Daily Gleaner, 29 September 1984)

MOZAMBIQUE

Mozambique is promoting beekeeping with the objective of turning honey hunting traditions to active and economic management of bees. It is hoped to discourage the poor type of activities used in exploiting bees (and the hazards this involved) and the destruction and killing of useful trees to get bark hives. The Beekeeping Programme was officially inaugurated in April 1982 and had three main objects: (1) to train personnel at all levels of beekeeping (2) to establish a factory to make basic beekeeping equipment and (3) to investigate ways of making honey containers out of plastic. By 1984, all basic materials, except bee gloves, are being made in Maputo. The Mozambique Transition Hive has been introduced, of manageable size and cheap to construct. This type of hive is being introduced to co-operative unions, family sectors, parastatal organizations and provincial apiaries. The programme helps beekeepers in every province with technical assistance from the headquarters.

(Source: M. N. Kawa; Domingo, 4 March 1984)

NICARAGUA

A national beekeeping programme is being Sponsored by SINAFORP, National Bank, CARE of Nicaragua and MIDIN- RA. The programme aims to help small Scale beekeepers, giving them training and technical help to modernize their beekeeping methods.

(Ing. Carlos Mendoza Arréliga)

NIGER

A beekeeping project is underway in Gaya, 4 small town in the very south of the Niger Republic, at the frontier to Benin. The Climate is that of the Sudanian Savanna (rainfall 600-800 mm during May-—October). Log hives are treated with a special “medicament” which is the secret of every beekeeper. Before placing a log hive in a tree, the beekeeper places the hive over a hole in the ground which contains burning “medicament”. The smoke of this burning Mixture is believed to give the hives a “taste” which attracts bees.

The first part of the programme is aimed to teach beekeepers the skills of beekeeping (as opposed to bee hunting), the importance of taking care of the environment to ensure the production of honey and how to handle and process honey. The Second part of the programme is to teach apiculture to students who will themselves become teachers of beekeeping.

The beekeepers are now interested in Starting a beekeeping co-operative to market honey and wax.

(Mr Harald Himsel)

PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Bees were introduced in the early 1900’s and kept by expatriate hobbyists in small numbers at home and at institutions where they worked.

In October 1976, through a bilateral aid agreement with New Zealand, large scale beekeeping began with 500 beehives. The first goal was to assess the beekeeping potential of different parts of the country. If this proved positive, the second goal was to train nationals in the profession who would work towards improving their standard of living and support the national economy by reducing the amount of honey imported. After seven years of operation, these goals are now being achieved, and there are 2700 hives owned by 60 beekeepers. A company owned by 50 of the 60 beekeepers was formed in 1983. The 50 are Share-holders from which 9 directors and a chairman are elected. The company has a central plant through which all the beekeepers’ honey is extracted, packed and marketed.

Production in 1983 was such that (after some problems) the national government was persuaded to impose a total ban on all honey imports. This ban came into effect on | May 1984. Papua New Guinea’s annual honey consumption is about 42 tonnes and 77 tonnes were produced in 1983.

(Mr Ianameto Mopafi)

The 1984 honey crop did not live up to expectations, and it seems that since beekeeping on a commercial scale started in Papua New Guinea there has been a two year pattern of good and poor honey crops. We are therefore optimistic for 1985! In 1984 24 tonnes of light, amber honey were exported to GFR, and 2°2 tonnes to GDR.

(Mr Bernhard Wedenig)

TANZANIA

A new National Association for Beekeepers in Tanzania is proposed, as it is felt that beekeeping in Tanzania has reached such a stage that an organization is now required to further assist beekeepers.

At present, there is a Beekeeping Division of the Tanzania Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, but there are limitations to a government organization in dealing with the manufacture and distribution of beekeeping equipment out of limited annual budgets. Mr G. Ntenga, Interim Chairman of the new Association, appeals for moral and material support from interested beekeepers’ associations.

TRINIDAD

(Africanized bees arrived in Trinidad in 1979.)

The Apiaries Unit is using “bee against bee” in a concerted effort to help put the besieged beekeeping industry on a manageable footing. The Unit, based at Curepe, is importing 300 pure-bred Italian queen bees to use in an island-wide programme of requeening existing colonies. ‘There is no question about it. We have to learn to live with the killer bees—and tame them. What we have to do is to remove the hostile queens and replace them with pure-bred Italian queens. We have to replace the aggressive bees with docile bees”, said Mr Sardanand Ramnarine.

The more interaction the docile, pure-bred Italian queen has with the bees, the greater the chances for the gradual elimination of the aggressive characteristics of the feared bees. The Apiaries Unit will also embark on an educational thrust, teaching management techniques to beekeepers.

A few local beekeepers are not unduly concerned about the Africanized bees. In fact, they seem to welcome them. Phagoo Lalman told ‘The Village” that he did not mind them at all. “Listen” he said, “I am getting more honey now. I know how to handle them. I do not think the industry will suffer. It is the public we have to be afraid for, since they are not trained to deal with bees.”

(Source: Mr Gladstone Solomon; The Villager, April 1984)