Beeconomics
Scientists at the French National Institute for Agronomic Research have estimated that some 150 billion euros per year is dependent on the contribution that honey bees make, worldwide.
BEEKEEPING IS A PRACTICAL WAY OF SUPPORTING FARMERS IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES
Empirical studies in India, for instance, suggest that cross polination by bees help to enhance the yield of staples by 20 to 40 percent.
Beekeeping is viable both as a primary and a supplementary form of income. It is attractive as a development project because startup costs are minimal. The critical component is the dissemination of information. The economic potential for beekeeping in developing countries renders it a logical project in many places.
In Uganda for example, according to the organisation Self Help Africa, beekeeping has emerged as a very successful agricultural practice that is contributing to food security and enterprise development for people in rural areas. This type of result can be attributed to the many benefits inherent to beekeeping, by contrast to many other agricultural endeavors, including:
Analysts have noted that in Kenya beekeepers are able to get good prices for their honey because demand is always high due to its nutritional and medicinal values. In Ethiopia, a country with an ancestral beekeeping tradition, it proved possible to multiply honey yields by three through ad hoc training programs. (Interestingly, Ethiopia is one of the five largest beeswax exporters in the world.)
In other developing countries, however, farmers are also withdrawing from beekeeping for they have too little control over the economic value chain. Experts note that even in Ethiopia, small producers often make a low quality product that they are forced to sell locally to wholesale buyers at prices lower than that offered in domestic commercial centres. Adequate support from government agencies is often lacking, and agricultural training accords insufficient space to apiculture.
BEEKEEPING IS A PRACTICAL WAY OF SUPPORTING FARMERS IN DEVELOPING ECONOMIES
Empirical studies in India, for instance, suggest that cross polination by bees help to enhance the yield of staples by 20 to 40 percent.
Beekeeping is viable both as a primary and a supplementary form of income. It is attractive as a development project because startup costs are minimal. The critical component is the dissemination of information. The economic potential for beekeeping in developing countries renders it a logical project in many places.
In Uganda for example, according to the organisation Self Help Africa, beekeeping has emerged as a very successful agricultural practice that is contributing to food security and enterprise development for people in rural areas. This type of result can be attributed to the many benefits inherent to beekeeping, by contrast to many other agricultural endeavors, including:
- A high return on investment
- Lower labour intensity
- Lower requirements in terms of inputs
- The possibility of two harvests a year
- Long product shelf life, something that can help weather detrimental turns in market prices
- Less land is required
Analysts have noted that in Kenya beekeepers are able to get good prices for their honey because demand is always high due to its nutritional and medicinal values. In Ethiopia, a country with an ancestral beekeeping tradition, it proved possible to multiply honey yields by three through ad hoc training programs. (Interestingly, Ethiopia is one of the five largest beeswax exporters in the world.)
In other developing countries, however, farmers are also withdrawing from beekeeping for they have too little control over the economic value chain. Experts note that even in Ethiopia, small producers often make a low quality product that they are forced to sell locally to wholesale buyers at prices lower than that offered in domestic commercial centres. Adequate support from government agencies is often lacking, and agricultural training accords insufficient space to apiculture.
DEVELOPED ECONOMIES ARE NEGATIVELY IMPACTED BY THE GROWING STRESS IMPOSED ON BEES
Pollination services represent a very important economic sector. Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an apiarist at the University of Maryland, describes bees used in such capacity as “a mobile pollination force." Thus, in the United States, a large commercial beekeeping company might transport hundreds of hives thousands of kilometres from Florida citrus groves to New Jersey watermelon fields to Maine's blueberries.
Regular long-range transportation of hives to service seasonal orchards can stress and disorientate their inhabitants. Honey bees' health may also suffer from the low pollen diversity found in crop monocultures. Also, out of season (or while in transit) the bees' nutritional needs are poorly served by maize (corn) or grape syrup, or fructose solutions, which are substituted for the richer honey that has been harvested. In addition, honey bees' natural reproduction is limited because new commercial hives are typically started using artificially inseminated queens, a practice that reduces genetic diversity.
Some even argue that a reduction in the commercial honey bee population, whether deliberate or from colony collapse disorder, may not be a bad thing. That we should use the "opportunity" presented by the fall in commercial beehives to support native wild bees and encourage natural honey beekeeping. Professor Robert Paxton reminds us that the same honeybees that are imported to support pollination and agricultural production also threaten native pollinators (as well as other honey bees) and hence undermine the sustainable provision of these ecosystem services. Ideally, the use of commercial bees should be limited to escape-proof greenhouses, as is typically the case in Japan. Also, "the stress introduced into the whole pollination system by having too many commercial honeybee hives may well magnify all other problems" (Patt Wilmer, Professor of biology, University of St Andrews).
The intentional provision of a cavity in which bees can build comb, lay eggs, and -- most importantly -- produce honey is what is called beekeeping. When honey bees are provided with an ideal hive, they are able to produce more honey than they need to survive, leaving a surplus for beekeepers.
Honey production in many developed countries has become more volatile in recent years. Thus, Britain’s beekeepers have reported an average yield of 32 pounds of honey per colony in 2014 (BBKA's annual Honey Survey), a far cry from the 8-pound per colony nadir of 2012. But, adds the report, “while this increase is great news for beekeepers and honey bees, the historic average is 40 pound-plus per hive, so there is still some way to go if we are to return to our most productive.” The husbandry skills needed to maintain healthy and productive honey bee colonies is key to achieve this.
Somewhat counter-intuitively, urban beekeeping may well contribute to the salvation of bees. Cities are comparatively pesticide-free compared to rural areas, and provide a variety of bloom from spring through to autumn, so there is plenty of food to forage on. The temperature is warmer in urban areas, which helps as well. As noted by the famous bee photographer Eric Tourneret, in Berlin there are normally 2,500 hives throughout the city, but when the linden are in bloom, this goes up to 15,000 hives (which produce an excellent honey). There are hives in many, sometimes unsuspected, urban locations -- from Russell Square in London to New York rooftops, even the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris (where the French Tennis Open takes place).
Pollination services represent a very important economic sector. Dennis vanEngelsdorp, an apiarist at the University of Maryland, describes bees used in such capacity as “a mobile pollination force." Thus, in the United States, a large commercial beekeeping company might transport hundreds of hives thousands of kilometres from Florida citrus groves to New Jersey watermelon fields to Maine's blueberries.
Regular long-range transportation of hives to service seasonal orchards can stress and disorientate their inhabitants. Honey bees' health may also suffer from the low pollen diversity found in crop monocultures. Also, out of season (or while in transit) the bees' nutritional needs are poorly served by maize (corn) or grape syrup, or fructose solutions, which are substituted for the richer honey that has been harvested. In addition, honey bees' natural reproduction is limited because new commercial hives are typically started using artificially inseminated queens, a practice that reduces genetic diversity.
Some even argue that a reduction in the commercial honey bee population, whether deliberate or from colony collapse disorder, may not be a bad thing. That we should use the "opportunity" presented by the fall in commercial beehives to support native wild bees and encourage natural honey beekeeping. Professor Robert Paxton reminds us that the same honeybees that are imported to support pollination and agricultural production also threaten native pollinators (as well as other honey bees) and hence undermine the sustainable provision of these ecosystem services. Ideally, the use of commercial bees should be limited to escape-proof greenhouses, as is typically the case in Japan. Also, "the stress introduced into the whole pollination system by having too many commercial honeybee hives may well magnify all other problems" (Patt Wilmer, Professor of biology, University of St Andrews).
The intentional provision of a cavity in which bees can build comb, lay eggs, and -- most importantly -- produce honey is what is called beekeeping. When honey bees are provided with an ideal hive, they are able to produce more honey than they need to survive, leaving a surplus for beekeepers.
Honey production in many developed countries has become more volatile in recent years. Thus, Britain’s beekeepers have reported an average yield of 32 pounds of honey per colony in 2014 (BBKA's annual Honey Survey), a far cry from the 8-pound per colony nadir of 2012. But, adds the report, “while this increase is great news for beekeepers and honey bees, the historic average is 40 pound-plus per hive, so there is still some way to go if we are to return to our most productive.” The husbandry skills needed to maintain healthy and productive honey bee colonies is key to achieve this.
Somewhat counter-intuitively, urban beekeeping may well contribute to the salvation of bees. Cities are comparatively pesticide-free compared to rural areas, and provide a variety of bloom from spring through to autumn, so there is plenty of food to forage on. The temperature is warmer in urban areas, which helps as well. As noted by the famous bee photographer Eric Tourneret, in Berlin there are normally 2,500 hives throughout the city, but when the linden are in bloom, this goes up to 15,000 hives (which produce an excellent honey). There are hives in many, sometimes unsuspected, urban locations -- from Russell Square in London to New York rooftops, even the Roland-Garros stadium in Paris (where the French Tennis Open takes place).
