Host Country
GLOBAL
Target Audience
INTERNATIONAL Bee Keepers)
Program Overview
Honey has a long and distinguished history in the human diet-Honey hunting from wild beehives – honey (huchi) and beeswax (namo). Phobia associated with beekeeping – stings (nyuchi dzinoruma, kunyanya dziya dze gonera). Now bees kept for Products (honey, propolis, beeswax, pollen, royal jelly).–Crop pollination.
How To Start Beekeeping THE HONEY BEE:
Bee swarm
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Why beekeeping?
•Uniqueness:
–Low cost venture
–lower labour demands
–Less land required
Many benefits
–Pollination agents for crops
–Employment creation
–Bee products (honey, propolis, beeswax, pollen, royal jelly)
Pollination agents
•Over 70 crops and many other flowering plants are dependent on, or benefit from, visits from bees
–almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, watermelons, cucumbers and strawberries
•Bees pollinate the flowers of many pasture plants
•The economic value of honey bees as pollinators of commercially grown insect pollinated crops:
–The UK > £200 million per year
–USA > $15 billion
–ZW > $???????
Honey
•Honey is made from nectar and pollen
•Largely composed of
–simple sugars (fructose and glucose make up 95%)
–water
–minerals (like potassium)
–amino acids and vitamins
•Colour of honey varies from clear and colourless to dark amber
•Honey tends to turn lighter as it crystallizes because the glucose crystals are white
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•Uses
–Food – direct consumption
–Medicines
–Soap making
–Drinks e.g. wine
–Cough syrup (mixed with lemon)
–Baking
Propolis
•Propolis is a sticky dark brown or black glue-like substance
–Bees make propolis by mixing glue from trees and other substances extracted from flower buds
–Used by bees as a sealing agent to close crevices or holes on the hive
–In the hive propolis is an anti-bacteria agent
•Uses of propolis
–Waterproof and can be used by builders in place of bitumen putty on asbestos roofs.
–Remedies for diseases such as asthma, skin diseases, arthritis, etc.
Bees wax
•Beeswax is an inflammable substance acquired after processing some honey combs.
•Uses of beeswax
–Solvent for some injectables
–Making wax foundations and wax crayons
–Making candles, floor polish, cosmetics, shoe polish and petroleum jelly
Pollen
•Pollen can be very useful to humans
–Bees are very helpful pollination agents in most crops, fruit trees and orchards to produce quality fruits and seeds
–Bees also collect pollen and store it in their hives. If collected from the cells on the combs, the pollen is very nutritious food that contains minerals, vitamins and carbohydrates
–Some suffering from indigestion can take pollen as a laxative
Royal jelly
•Royal jelly (from the name) is special food for the queen bee and larvae
–Found in larvae cells
•Uses by man
–Royal jelly is used in making medicine to treat various ailments. People who have suffered from prolonged illness can take this for fast recovery.
–Royal jelly has all the constituents of a balanced diet.
•Problem extracting royal jelly
–It calls for great knowledge for beekeepers to obtain the jelly from the larvae cells without forcing the bees to abscond the hive
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Other benefits
•A good integration into crop farming
•Environmentally friendly – it promotes the planting and maintenance of trees
•Employment creation
–Carpenters make hives
–Builders construct bee houses
–Tailors make veils and bee suits
–Blacksmith and potters make hive tools and clay hives respectively
–Vendors market honey and other products
Honey bee species
•European Apis mellifera
–Widely used worldwide
•Africanised Apis mellifera,
–slightly smaller than the European Apis mellifera
–More likely to fly off the comb, abscond if disturbed and sting intruders
–The colonies tend to migrate seasonally
•In Asia – 3 native tropical bee species
–A. cerana is the only species that can be managed in hives
–Apis dorsata, and Apis florea single combs are collected by honey hunters
Types of bees in a colony
•Three kinds or castes of bee are found in a hive of honey bees:
–A queen – always one
–The drones – several hundred per colony
–The workers – as many as 60,000 workers
•Each is essential to the life of the colony
•Each has a specific roles and duties
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