News

AFGHANISTAN

Beekeepers returning home

In August a delegation from the Afghan Beekeepers' Association held discussions with top Government officials in Kabul and began negotiations regarding setting up bee farms in Afghanistan.

Mr Babakarkhel has spent 27 years in Pakistan but is now determined to return to Afghanistan to develop his business and improve the country's economy. He wants to motivate his colleagues to play their role in rebuilding. Mr Babakarkhel said that Afghans living in Pakistan have 8,000 bee farms and every farm has 150-200 hives. About 0.1 million people are busy with this profession, harvesting 50-60 kg honey from each hive and selling that produce both within and outside the country. Mr Babakarkhel said Pakistan receives millions of dollars in tax from the honey, and with the planned project not only would Afghanistan benefit from the tax, but thousands of people would be employed. Afghan residents would have the chance to buy honey at lower prices. Mr Babakarkhel asked for markets to be built in the cities and, because their beekeeping is migratory (the beekeepers move colonies from one source of forage to another), he asked the Government to provide transport facilities. He also asked for the checking procedure to be relaxed for beekeepers, because if a car loaded with hives is stopped for 10 minutes in the heat, the death of bees is certain.

Mohammad Salman, a beekeeper who has worked for 18 years in Pakistan and two years in Afghanistan, complained that they are facing numerous problems. Keeping 400 hives in Khogiani District of eastern Nangarhar he said police were demanding money, or sometimes honey as bribes during transportation of their produce. He said there was no market for honey in Afghanistan and they were compelled to send the produce to Peshawar in Pakistan for sale. Also there were no medicines for bees and they had to bring them from Peshawar. Deputy Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation, Mohammad Sharif Sharif said establishing the farms would be a great benefit to Afghanistan. Though not promising great assistance, he said he would try his best to provide basic facilities to beekeepers, and they had many experts who could provide valuable suggestions. Head of the Ministry of Foreign Trade in Commerce, Mohammad Azim Wardak, said although the granting of trade facilities was the job of the Government, traders should not be lethargic spectators. Beekeepers should publicise their products and arrange national and international exhibitions. He said that although some companies wanted to invest money in Afghanistan, the lack of electricity, industrial parks and security were great obstacles to development.

Association Official Syed Aga Naeemi was pleased with the prospects and said that if individuals started working together, the Government would assist them because working in groups would help to create markets for the honey. Mr Naeemi also demanded that the Government provide beekeepers with a letter of authority to enable them to easily transport their produce to neighbouring Pakistan. He said that even if they harvested honey from their bees in Pakistan, they would be bringing it to Afghanistan to sell. Mr Naeemi said that bee farming started in 1974, and at that time Afghanistan exported 40 tonnes of honey per year.

According to a verse of the Holy Koran Allah has stored a healing touch in honey for human beings’.

Source www.onlinenews.com.pk

ARGENTINA

Beekeeping emergency declared

Buenos Aires Province has declared a ‘Beekeeping Emergency Status’. Commission President, Daniel Gurzi explained: "The area is suffering from an unusual drought that repeats in 7-8 year cycles, however this time it is more extensive. Economic problems have become worse, not only in beekeeping, but also for industry and trade. When an emergency situation is declared in any economic sector, it triggers measures such as improving national bank credit rates, not levying interest on delayed tax payments or any type of credit acquired by the producer. If beekeepers cannot harvest their crops because of a climate problem, and consequently cannot provide the product to the market, they must deal with the possibility of credit expiration, quotas or the implementation of taxes. The emergency declaration means that the producer will have a delayed term to fulfil debts due to the State".

Source Portal Apicola and thanks to Rafael Thimann for providing the translation

BHUTAN

Beekeeping with European honey bees Apis mellifera was introduced to Bhutan's Bumthang Valley by a private beekeeper in 1987. In 1995 a Project was established with support from Helvetas (Swiss Association for International Co-operation). After training some Bhutanese beekeepers, the Project was handed over to the Beekeepers’ Association of Bhutan (BEKAB). Currently the Association has 28 beekeepers with 370 colonies of Apis mellifera producing 8,400-10,300 kg of honey annually.

This year BEKAB expects to collect more than 11,000 kg of honey. An Association official said that good weather had favoured the bees in their nectar collection. The first honey harvest starts on 10 July and is usually completed by the first week of August. In 2005 the Association had a yield of 8.5 tonnes in the first harvesting season and 3 tonnes in the second harvest in September. "Last year, bears destroyed about 60 colonies which drastically reduced the yield in the second season: weather conditions, bears and diseases threaten honey yields every year", said Tek Bahadur Pulami, Chairman of the Association.

Alter harvest the Association buys the honey from its members. Tek Bahadur said that the honey is checked for quality and if it contains more than 18% moisture, it is sold to winemakers. The Association pays its members Nu 122.50 (US$2.7; €2.10) per kg of honey and also supplies sugar for spring and winter bee feeding.

Beekeepers check their colonies regularly for diseases and give the appropriate treatment. Aum Choden said that beekeeping is her main source of income, earning Nu 30,000 (US$653: €515) annually. "I became a member 13 years ago with two colonies and now I have nine colonies", she said. The first honey harvest provides golden yellow honey from mixed flowers, and white honey from clover.

Source Nima Wangdi, Bjakar www. kuenselonline.com

FlJl

In 2006 technical support is being directed to beekeeping research and training to help the industry produce 250 tonnes of honey. target is 50 tonnes more than 2005's total, but is still 50 tonnes short of satisfying the local demand. Agriculture Ministry spokesman Josefa Uluilakeba said the Ministry planned to boost the industry through hive development programmes and was pleased that people have shown interest in beekeeping.

Beekeepers in areas including Sigatoka, Nadroga and in the Ra Province sell their harvest to hotels. A women's group engaged in honey production sells honey for FJ$6 (US$3.6; €2.7) per kg to retailers. Mr Uluilakeba said that manufacturers were at an advantage because the Ministry arranged markets for the bee farmers.

Fiji has 7,000 colonies whereas its potential is thought to be 50,000. The number is being increased by 1,000 every year until the demand for honey is met. 20% of beekeepers are fully commercial, 30% are semi commercial and the remaining 50% are hobbyists. Fiji imposed strict quarantine procedures on imported honey in June 2006.

Source www. fijitimes.com/story

IRAN

Winning ways

Iranian experts have succeeded in the biological fight against two important honey bee pests: the mites Varroa and Acarapis. Iran's Veterinary Organisation has issued the license for the mass production of the medicine, a formic acid gel produced by researchers at a domestic pharmaceutical company.

The gel is available for use in the field from the beginning of October 2006. In addition to creating resistance to treatment, most of the currently used medicines affect the quality of the honey produced, but the new drug rules out these disadvantages.

Source www.mehrnews. ir/en

GHANA

Mercy reaches out to women beekeepers

The Community Development Service (CDS) of Mercy Ships, in active collaboration with the Forestry Commission of Ghana, has trained and supported 52 women to keep honey bees in the Ga West District near Accra. Honey, beeswax and propolis will be produced and packaged to add good value. In this way the women and their families' income levels will be improved. The support was part of a micro-enterprise initiative of Mercy Ships MV Anastasis which is currently docked in Tema Harbour (see News around the World, BfDJ 77).

The women were selected from various farming communities in the district. Selection was based on the individual's active involvement in woodlot development and sacred grove (small traditional forest reserves in Ghana, average about 2 ha, that are kept by the local communities) protection in their villages. Two start-up workshops took place, one in July and the second in August 2006 in the district capital. The start-up equipment supplied included two hives, bee suits, smokers, boots and harvesting buckets.

The greatest challenge was to prepare the mind set of the women to receive honey bees into their lives. They have to remove their fear of bees and replace this with care of colonies for greater benefits. Another interesting innovation that added to the women's training was a sensitization programme carried out in the various communities from which the participants were selected. An evening session was made up of a film show on beekeeping and a question and answer time. These outreach programmes offered a platform for the people to appreciate the importance of bees and to learn to live with them. This was to avoid the occurrence of the honey bee-human conflict which often sees only the negative attributes of bees.

The workshops were deliberately planned ahead of the September-December swarming season and we hope to stock all the hives by December 2006.

Kwame Aidoo

BfD's Correspondent in Ghana

PAKISTAN

Haji Wahid, a 54 year-old-beekeeper in Peshawar was leading a happy life earning a handsome amount to feed his family until two thirds of his honey bee colonies were destroyed in the October 2005 earthquake.

A native of Bajaur, Wahid is running his honey business with the assistance of 50 members of his family at Tarnab, a hub of honey trade in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). "| travel with the bees across the country to provide them with pollen and nectar", said Wahid, who started his business in 1992. He said that he visited Punjab and Azad Kashmir in search of bee flora at the end of the spring season. "The large-scale cutting of berry, Calocacia (palosa), Citrus fruits, peaches, shisham, and sunflower in the NWFP has affected beekeeping", he added.

He said there was an ever-increasing demand for Pakistan's honey in Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia , the UAE, Yemen, and other Middle Eastern countries because of its fine quality. He urged the government to fix honey rates to help thousands of beekeepers in their business.

Raza Shah, President of Pak Beekeepers Association (PBA), said that 6,000 honey farms exist in the NWFP He said the government should impose a ban on the cutting of berry and palosa trees to save millions of bees from starvation and ultimate extinction. Also beekeepers should be provided with interest-free loans.

Haji Rafique Najeeb, a leading honey exporter in Jarnab said the average yield of honey per colony had increased from 4-21 kg, while the total production in the country had risen from 250 to 2,500 tonnes during the last two decades. He said the increase in honey production had brought down the price of honey in the local market. He sold berry honey for Rs 180,000 (US$2961; €2318) a tonne in 2005 against Rs 160,000 (US$2632; €2059) in 2006. Rafique added that local beekeepers needed to have technical knowhow and training to improve the quality of honey and to increase their annual income.

Source www. pakistanlink.com

RODRIGUES

Care-Co is a non profit company on the remote Indian Ocean Island of Rodrigues that assists disabled people in beekeeping, honey processing, bottling and marketing. There are 15 beekeepers in the organisation, all with disabilities. Five run the 'Mike Duggan Model Teaching Apiary' and honey processing and bottling plant. ‘Hives for the Handicapped! is a credit scheme which allows those who are interested to obtain their equipment and take courses run by visiting beekeepers from the UK. Honey from our scheme has won awards including a 2nd prize at the 2006 UK National Honey Show. Our honey is served on the meal trays of Air Mauritius and sold in shops in Rodrigues and in many hotels in Mauritius. Care-Co aims to become a beekeeping and honey producing model for groups of disabled people in East Africa. The Care-Co Project

has been selected as one of the 12 finalists in the BBC/Newsweek/Shell World Challenge Contest 2006 (www.theworldchallenge.co.uk)

Paul Draper - Care Co Project Manager

[For more about the Project see BfDJ 58 or our website Information Centre]

THE GAMBIA

Mangiki Jabani sent this photograph showing the participants of a recent training programme held at Sifoe Katdye Farm

A LIFETIME DEDICATED TO APICULTURE

Silvestro Cannamela (1924 - 2006)

A beekeeper since 1952, Dr Silvestro Cannamela became Secretary-General of Apimondia, the International Federation of Beekeepers’ Associations in 1965. He immediately worked hard with the newly-elected President of Apimondia, Professor V Harnaj, to revive the Federation structure and created the international Institute of Beekeeping Economy and Technology in Bucharest, Romania. Under their strong drive, the two institutions reached levels of activity and representation that are still unparalleled. Strong working partnerships were established with FAO and other UN agencies.

In particular, Dr Cannamela, Professor Harnaj and Mr van Rappard, the Dean of Apimondia Presidents, believed that bees are not bound nor affected by borders and they fostered the international nature of beekeeping, promoting close relationships between beekeepers and scientists world-wide. They supported the elimination of any division between East and West, and organised many congresses and symposia in this spirit in the late 1960s, 70s and early 80s. Dr Cannamela also promoted the creation of the European Co-ordination Group on Apiculture, from which stemmed the Honey Group within the Agricultural Professional Organisations Committee in Brussels in the EU. After collaborating with the Bulletin of Apimondia in 1965 he participated in the creation of Apiacta, the Apimondia official magazine.

In 1993 he resigned as Secretary-General of Apimondia and Mr Riccardo Jannoni-Sebastianini took over. Dr Silvestra Cannamela was appointed Knight of the Agricultura! Order by the French Republic, and worked as organiser and promoter of a long series of Apimondia International Apicultural Congresses.

To those proudly taking over from him in carrying out his legacy, there remains the challenging task of continuing his work and keeping alive his example and memory. With the bees always tucked in the heart.

Riccardo Jannoni-SebastianiniApimondia Secretary-General www.apimondia.org