An iconic traditional apiculture of park fringe communities of Borena Sayint National Park, north eastern Ethiopia

Background: Traditional apiculture has been practised in Ethiopia over a long historical period and still remains a benign means to extract direct benefits from natural ecosystems. While its contribution to economic development and watershed protection is increasingly recognized its cultural significance is however, seldom noticed. This study was conducted using an ethnobotanical study approach to document the honey bee flora and associated indigenous knowledge of local communities in Borena Sayint National Park (BSNP), north eastern Ethiopia. Methods: Data were collected from 170 informants through semi-structured interviews and guided field walks, focus group discussion with 37 informants and 14 key informants and analyzed using standard analytical tools including ranking, comparisons and multivariate analyses. Results: In total, 152 bee forage species in 133 genera and 74 families were documented. The Asteraceae and Rosaceae were represented with six species each over the other plant families. Percentage of mentions per species ranged between 76.9 and 13.5 % for the most salient bee forage species. Dombeya torrida, Erica arborea, and Olinia rochetiana captured high community consensus as measured by rank order of popularity and designated as local appellation names of honey. Cluster analysis of priority ranking data showed relationships between key informants with respect to preferences, but ordination analysis did not indicate environmental proximity as a determinant of their responses. Five honey harvesting seasons occur each corresponding to the floral calendar of a dominant bee forage species that stipulate relocation of hives to appropriate locations within the national park. Conclusion: The apicultural tradition is iconic with economic value and forming part of the local peoples' cultural identity apt to be preserved as a bequest for posterity

External Evaluation Report

The document represents an external evaluation report on four grant - making programs of the Women's Fund during 2009 - 2012. The evaluation was performed by the Applied Research Company (ARC) during October - November, 2012. The purpose of the external evaluation was to analyze the outcome of the Fund's activities against four criteria: relevance, efficiency, sustainability and effectiveness

Knowing the honey bee : a multispecies ethnography : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

Multispecies scholarship argues that the non-human has been relegated to the background of discussions about who and what inhabits and shapes the world. This thesis engages with this discussion as an experimental multispecies ethnography with honey bees in Manawatu, New Zealand. I aim to centre the honey bee in ethnography through engagement in the practice of fieldwork as well as the representation of the findings of this engagement. The honey bee is commonly known as an introduced, domesticated species, kept by humans in beehives in apiculture. This conceals the agency of the honey bee, rendering it passive, productive and compliant to the desires of humans, or in need of human intervention for survival. To view the agency of the bee I undertook embodied, performative ethnography, interviewing beekeepers and becoming one myself. My methodology, which was shaped by the bee, traced the networks that honey bees were enrolled in. Encounters were awkward, one-sided, and sometimes dangerous. The representation of honey bees demands an approach which attends to multiple, distinct accounts of honey bee worlds, because the bee is a lively agent, contributing to, experiencing, and communicating about the multiple networks in which it is engaged. As such, the findings of this thesis are presented in three accounts of encounters with honey bees. These accounts are distinct, capturing the honey bee in different networks, but are also distinct in their narrative styles, progressing from a description of honey networks in the spirit of Actor-Networks, to writing with honey bee narrator in poetry. Ethnographic representation is inevitably partial and an act of imagination. However, becoming sensitive to the ‘bee-ness’ of the bee; the waggle, hum and sting, and employing narrative inspired by the multisensory apiary, in other words, shaping representation with honey bees in mind, is an act of privileging honey bees in writing, and exploring what more can be said of, and with, the bee

Honey bee colony losses

No description supplie

Distribution and transmission of American foulbrood in honey bees

The distribution of Paenibacillus larvae spores, the causative agent of American foulbrood, was studied on three different levels in the honey bee system; the apiary level, the colony level and the individual honey bee level. The increased understanding of spore distribution has been used to give recommendations regarding sampling of adult honey bees. The vertical transmission of P. larvae spores through natural swarms has been described for the first time and artificial swarming as a method for control of American foulbrood have been evaluated. The results demonstrated that there is no practical difference in spore load between supers and brood chambers, and that the spore load in samples of adult honey bees on the different levels correspond to the clinical disease status of the colony. The study on individual bees showed that spores are unequally distributed among the bees and that as more bees get contaminated each positive bee also contains more spores. This may present a problem when sampling from colonies with low levels of clinical disease, although the study on colony and apiary level showed no false negatives. A model for calculating the number of bees that needs to be sampled to detect P. larvae in a composite sample of adult bees, given certain detection levels and proportions of positive honey bees in the sample, was developed The swarm study demonstrated vertical transmission of P. larvae spores. Furthermore, the artificial swarm study showed that single and double shaking are equally effective treatment methods, and that the original disease status is of little importance for the spore load decrease

Mapping the teaching of honeybee veterinary medicine in the European Union and European Free Trade Area

Background Honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a very important species for human beings, animals, environmental biodiversity, crop production and economic sustainability in Europe and worldwide. This study investigates whether future veterinarians are trained to deal with the particular needs of the only traditional food-producing insect in Europe. Methods This study analyses data collected from 77 European veterinary education establishments in EU and the European Free Trade Area. Results The results show that 75 per cent of those establishments (58 out of 77) teach honeybee veterinary medicine. There is a clear geographical differentiation. In north-western countries only about half of the establishments include honeybee health, production and product inspection in their undergraduate curricula, while in eastern, central and southern countries, which are also important beekeeping countries, the great majority of the establishments incorporate honeybee veterinary medicine in their undergraduate curriculum. Eighty-six per cent of all the establishments teaching honeybee veterinary medicine (50 of the 58) incorporate it in their core curriculum either as separate subject or as part of other subjects. Twenty-five per cent of all the establishments (19 out of 77) organise postgraduate training courses in this field. Conclusions Veterinarians have an important role in ensuring the health, sustainability and productivity of managed honeybee colonies as they do for other animal species. It seems however that teaching of honeybee veterinary medicine receives less attention in undergraduate veterinary curricula in EU compared with other fields of veterinary medicine. Seeing the increasing importance of honey bees for crop protection, environmental protection and economic sustainability, it would be beneficial to further strengthen the education of honeybee veterinary medicine in the future. Establishments should encourage and prepare veterinarians for practising science-based veterinary medicine in honey bees by incorporating such teaching in undergraduate curricula and by providing postgraduate opportunities to qualified veterinarians wishing to enhance their basic skills in this field

Organic Rural Innovation Systems and Networks: Findings From a Study of Ethiopian Smallholders

Agriculture in Ethiopia is changing. New players, relationships, and policies are influencing the ways in which information and knowledge are used by smallholders. While this growing complexity suggests opportunities for Ethiopian smallholders, too little is known about how these opportunities can be effectively leveraged to promote pro-poor processes of rural innovation. This paper examines Ethiopia’s smallholder agricultural sector from an innovation systems perspective to understand the changing roles, responsibilities, and interactions of diverse actors in relation to smallholder livelihoods. The paper uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research tools to paint a picture of the innovation landscape at both the system and local levels. Findings suggest that public sector extension, administration, and related service providers form a closely-knit network in rural Ethiopia with the ability to influence smallholder access to knowledge and information. Given the Government of Ethiopia’s priorities of improving rural welfare by increasing market access among smallholders, these findings suggest the need for policies and programs designed to strengthen innovative capabilities among rural service providers from the public sector, and to create more space for private and civil society actors to participate in smallholder innovation networks.Ethiopia, Agricultural development, innovation, technology, Social networks, Social learning, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

The antibacterial activity of honey: 2. Variation in the potency of the antibacterial activity

Honey is gaining acceptance by the medical profession for use as an antibacterial agent for the treatment of ulcers and bed sores, and other surface infections resulting from burns and wounds. In many cases it is being used with success on infections not responding to standard antibiotic and antiseptic therapy. Its effectiveness in rapidly clearing up infection and promoting healing is not surprising in light of the large number of research findings on its antibacterial activity, covered in Part 1 of this review

Lattice fence and hedge barriers around an apiary increase honey bee flight height and decrease stings to people nearby

Urban beekeeping is becoming more popular in the UK. One of the challenges faced by urban beekeepers is finding a suitable apiary location. Honey bees are often perceived as a nuisance, mainly due to their stinging behaviour. Here, we experimentally test the assumption that barriers around an apiary such as walls or fences, force the bees to fly above human height, thereby reducing collisions with people and, consequently, stinging. The experiment was conducted in two apiaries using two common types of barrier: a lattice fence (trellis) and hedge. Barriers were 2 m high, which is taller than > 99% of humans and is also the maximum height allowed by UK planning regulations for garden fences or walls. We found that barriers were effective at both raising the mean honey bee flight height and reducing stinging. However, the effects were only seen when the barrier had been in place for a few days, not immediately after the barrier was put in place. Although this raises interesting questions regarding honey bee navigation and memory, it is not a problem for beekeepers, as any barrier placed around an apiary will be permanent. The effect of the barriers on raising bee flight height to a mean of c. 2.2-2.5 m was somewhat weak and inconsistent, probably because the bees flew high, mean of c. 1.6-2.0 m, even in the absence of a barrier. As barriers can also reduce wind exposure, improve security and are inexpensive, we recommend their use around urban apiaries in places such as private gardens or allotments, where nuisance to humans is likely to be a problem

Suitability of Current and Future Conditions to Apiculture in Egypt using Geographical Information System

Apiculture is currently considered as an important economic activity in Egypt. Most agricultural areas in Egypt are located close to Nile river as well as apicultural activities. Recently, various desert areas have been widely reclaimed and inhabited. In this study, the land suitability to apiculture in Egypt, either cultivated or desert areas, was investigated using geographical information system (GIS), under current and future conditions (2070). Two maps were extracted from the spatial analysis; one map for current conditions and the second one for future conditions. The study shows that most Egypt is suitable for apiculture but the more suitable areas are restricted to specific locations. In the future, land suitability was found to be impacted by future conditions, mainly thermal stress. Upper Egypt will be greatly impacted than the middle or north Egypt. Apiaries relocation is advisable especially at upper Egypt when necessary during 2070. It could be expected that apiculture could be practiced widely throughout Egypt currently and in the future as well, and in reclaimed lands. The spatial analysis was done using the major factors that could impact beekeeping; namely, maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation, slope, land type, and distance from plants.</jats:p