Good Management Practices are Critical to a Sustainable Honey Industry
If you’ve ever come across a bee, your natural reaction would be to run away because their sting can be painful and deadly. And while bees have proven deadly to humans and animals, they are critical to the sustainability of food production. But bee populations are dwindling more and more each year. They are under great threat from climate change, intensive farming, diseases, pests, chemicals, as well as biodiversity loss. On Thursday night, we showed you how beekeepers in the north are tackling the small-hive beetle; a pest that can decimate honey-bee colonies. Looking at the history of Belize’s honey production industry, bee populations are susceptible. Ministry of Agriculture’s Mario Howe tells us more about those challenges and a few of practices that bee-keepers can implement to build up resiliency within their apiaries.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
Most people are scared of bees but these small, buzzing, flying insects are more than just a threat to humans because they play important roles in food production, health and employment. Because of their pollinating job, humans can enjoy a variety of fruits, vegetables and flowers. The bee also produces honey which is consumed and used for health purposes. They also produce beeswax used for a number of beauty and household products. In Belize alone, there are one hundred and ten registered bee-keepers who depend directly on the honey industry to make their livelihoods. But despite its invaluable contributions, over the last fifteen years there has been a rapid decline of the honey bee globally. Belize’s honey-bee challenges started way back in the eighties when swarms of Africanized bees began to take out the European honey-bees. Before this defensives pecies came, Belize had a vibrant honey industry.
Mario Howe
Mario Howe, National Focal Point Honey Industry, Ministry of Agriculture
“At that time we used to have several organized cooperatives which then formed a national honey federation in Belize which then buy all the honey from the producers. Also at that time, we used to produce around seven-hundred and fifty thousand pounds of honey annually and we used to export honey to the U.S.A, Europe and U.K. Everything was good in terms of honey production. But in mid-1980’s, here comes the introduction of the Africanized Bees into Belize which came in with different characteristics and our bee-keepers weren’t ready to manage these bees.”
And there weren’t trained personnel in Belize at that time to deal with the Africanized Bee. And from there the honey industry took a left turn.
Mario Howe
“Africanized bee take over all the bees – it crossed. We didn’t have the European honey bees anymore, we have the Africanized bees now. So, that made it more difficult for farmers to manage and it needed investment on the beekeeper’s end as well. So, our production went down as well, during that period we lost a lot of bee hives. In the 1990’s we were faced with the introduction of the varoa mite which is another pest that affected most colonies because if not properly managed it has its impacts on the industry as well.”
Over the years, the Ministry of Agriculture and its partners have embarked on a number of activities to help the industry rebound. It started showing signs of improvements in the late nineties and the 2000’s. But in 2016 the small hive beetle was detected in colonies in the north. The pest, if left uncontrolled, can destroy bee colonies and cripple the local honey industry. So, the Ministry and bee-keepers are collaborating to control this pest. But while they tackle the small hive beetle, environmental changes are also creating added pressure for the bees. The intensification of land use, such as farming and urban development, has reduced food for bees, as well as well nesting sites for the wild pollinators.
Mario Howe
“Climate change is on our side as well which also affects it. We know that bees depend on the forest and the forest also depends on the climate and all of these have effects on the bees.”
And while some challenges cannot be prevented, the Ministry of Agriculture says that bee-keepers must implement good honey-bee keeping management practices to have resilient colonies and maintain a sustainable local honey production.
Mario Howe
“If the bees are healthy they could fight the small hive beetle. They need to have re-queening programme as well, so that they have a strong queen and a good colony at the end of the day. Your bottom boards should be sealed off, so that whatever trap you put the trap will work effectively. Because a trap could be very good but if you have other openings around where beetles could go then at the end of the day bee-keepers would say that the trap is not good.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
The Ministry of Agriculture is working on a five-year plan for the honey production industry.
