UZMA ALEEM
Despite the environmental, agricultural and industrial benefits of apiculture, the number of honey bees is on the decline. Academic and research efforts can give a lift to honeybee keeping if Pakistan Agriculture Research Council takes some developmental initiatives, reports UZMA ALEEM
Honey farming dimensions “What the heck is in that tree”“
“Where” .....Wow, that looks like a HUGE mass of bees!”
Sure enough, it was a honey bee swarm clustered together on the lower branch of a blue spruce tree. For whatever reason, the queen bee had taken the hive on a journey to find a new home, and this spruce branch was just one stop along the way.
This was among some of memories of my childhood regarding honeybees. When we could easily find honey bees hives on trees and their migration in swarms but now these scenes have become extinct. After working in the horticulture industry for several decades, I knew how beneficial honey bees were to agriculture. Years ago a beekeeper had told me that honey bees were on the decline in Pakistan due to mites and disease, so I further realized how important it was to preserve the colonies of bees though in the form of modern day apiculture farms,” Nawaz Malick, a horticulturist said.
These words of a horticulturist are not only memories rather it shed light on an important issue of honeybee keeping in Pakistan. Benefits of apiculture are numerous as it is beneficial for agriculture and industrial sector as well. The share of honeybees in crop pollination is 80 percent. It improves the quality of fruits, vegetable and yield of seed crops. Honey production from occidental bees is upto 24 kg per colony per annum. The sidder honey fetches maximum price. Bee hive value-added by-products are also useful royal jelly, pollen and propolis are used as health food and beeswax in cosmetics. Despite its all of benefits for agriculture and industrial sector, little has been done in Pakistan. Though Pakistan Agriculture Research Council PARC initiated research in apiculture at federal level in July 1976 under a coordinated programme of Honeybee Management yet it was terminated and this project was transferred to the non-development budget of PARC as its core activity in 1987. Afterward a German NGO GTZ collaborated for this project and a full-fledged Honeybee Research Institute was established with its own building, including laboratories in 1989. While being shuffled from last three decades, now it has merged into Institute of Plant & Environment Protection (IPEP). Perhaps the structural change of this department was one of the factors which proved discouraging for the apiculturists. Now academic and business promotion entities are also taking interest in this primitive and beneficial activity of apiculture as Punjab University has also established its apiculture research centre at its New Campus Lahore.
In this regard some training workshops were also conducted. The purpose of these workshops was to promote apiculture or honey bee keeping in Pakistan. Students, representatives of SMEs, women entrepreneurs and those who wanted to enhance their skills and capabilities in apiculture as their hobby or and business took keen interest in this research based workshop. Attiya Malik, a student of Zoology department of Punjab University Lahore, who also got training of honey bee farming in a workshop held in PU, told, “Collecting honey from wild bee colonies is one of the most ancient human activities and is still practiced by aboriginal societies in parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. Some of the earliest evidence of gathering honey from wild colonies is from cave paintings, dating to around 13,000 BC. So my hobby and training of honey bee keeping is an extension of activities of primitive humans”. She said she wanted to actualize her hobby into a productive activity that could be fruitful for agri habitat and country”s economy as well.
Punjab University has established a European bee “Apis mellifera” farm comprising 200 hives at its New Campus which help provide quality and tasteful honey to the people easily. Research is being carried out for improvement in management techniques, quality queen breeding and control of pests and disease to increase honey yield of colonies.
Punjab University Honeybee Research Project Chairman Dr Muhammad Akhtar said that to feed the honeybees continuously, many floral and other trees were being planted in the campus. He said that beekeeping training programmes and workshops for honeybee management at national and provincial level had been organised for dissemination of technical know-how among students, farmers, extension workers, officers of alien departments and hobbyists.
“Special emphasis is being given on generating awareness about the crucial factor of bee pollination required for increased productivity and PU efforts have brought maximum results. Moreover honey is a natural product of honeybee keeping rather it offers honey, royal jelly, wax, pollen, proplis and bee venom that have innumerable commercial uses,” he elucidated.
The European bee honeybee farm comprising 200 colonies has been established for research, training and teaching purpose. The colonies are presently foraging Citrus plants for honey and honeybee queen production. During a year, some 2424 kg honey was extracted. Pure natural honey produced as a research by-product and packed under hygienic conditions is being provided to the employees and general public by the University. Total sale proceeds of the honey sold so far is more than Rs. 45,25,905. Though this project of Punjab University is not a huge project yet it is big success. If more projects of such kind are started then these can be quite beneficial for agri and industrial sector. Certain training programs like integrated honeybee management for production of honey and other bee keeping products can be beneficial. Management Associate, Dairy and Livestock Sector-Punjab of SMEDA told the main objective of the training was to introduce honeybee farming as source of income and mean to alleviate poverty by creating employment opportunities especially in rural areas. Then, to identify major problems in promoting honeybee farming as profitable enterprise for generating such kind of employment. “Some people raise bees for a hobby, others do it for a business. As a business, it could raise enough to support a small family. If you have the interest or resources to start a honey farm, explore the possibility of getting into business with it. Our guide will help you by providing some basics of starting a honey farm. Honey farming could be a hobby, but it could also be a full-time job that could support a small family. Small bee farmers can produce average of 100 lbs. of honey per year. If you are into honey farming as a hobby, you can turn that interest into a business. If not, and you are outright interested in getting into business, try working as a beekeeper employee for a while, even just part time, to assess whether beekeeping is indeed for you,” she explained.
Beekeeping can be a profitable business in Pakistan. About 7,000 beekeepers are now rearing exotic species, Apis mellifera in the modern beehives. There are about 300,000 colonies producing 7,500 metric ton honey annually. Congenial climate conditions and bee flora in the country provide excellent opportunities for the expansion of beekeeping. Honeybee flora is present on vast areas in all the provinces including Northern areas, FATA and AJK and can support 1,000,000 honeybee colonies. Now there is an immediate need to get benefit from environmental and geographical conditions for better production of honey.
Despite the environmental, agricultural and industrial benefits of apiculture, the number of honey bees is on the decline. Academic and research efforts can give a lift to honeybee keeping if Pakistan Agriculture Research Council takes some developmental initiatives, reports UZMA ALEEM
Honey farming dimensions “What the heck is in that tree”“
“Where” .....Wow, that looks like a HUGE mass of bees!”
Sure enough, it was a honey bee swarm clustered together on the lower branch of a blue spruce tree. For whatever reason, the queen bee had taken the hive on a journey to find a new home, and this spruce branch was just one stop along the way.
This was among some of memories of my childhood regarding honeybees. When we could easily find honey bees hives on trees and their migration in swarms but now these scenes have become extinct. After working in the horticulture industry for several decades, I knew how beneficial honey bees were to agriculture. Years ago a beekeeper had told me that honey bees were on the decline in Pakistan due to mites and disease, so I further realized how important it was to preserve the colonies of bees though in the form of modern day apiculture farms,” Nawaz Malick, a horticulturist said.
These words of a horticulturist are not only memories rather it shed light on an important issue of honeybee keeping in Pakistan. Benefits of apiculture are numerous as it is beneficial for agriculture and industrial sector as well. The share of honeybees in crop pollination is 80 percent. It improves the quality of fruits, vegetable and yield of seed crops. Honey production from occidental bees is upto 24 kg per colony per annum. The sidder honey fetches maximum price. Bee hive value-added by-products are also useful royal jelly, pollen and propolis are used as health food and beeswax in cosmetics. Despite its all of benefits for agriculture and industrial sector, little has been done in Pakistan. Though Pakistan Agriculture Research Council PARC initiated research in apiculture at federal level in July 1976 under a coordinated programme of Honeybee Management yet it was terminated and this project was transferred to the non-development budget of PARC as its core activity in 1987. Afterward a German NGO GTZ collaborated for this project and a full-fledged Honeybee Research Institute was established with its own building, including laboratories in 1989. While being shuffled from last three decades, now it has merged into Institute of Plant & Environment Protection (IPEP). Perhaps the structural change of this department was one of the factors which proved discouraging for the apiculturists. Now academic and business promotion entities are also taking interest in this primitive and beneficial activity of apiculture as Punjab University has also established its apiculture research centre at its New Campus Lahore.
In this regard some training workshops were also conducted. The purpose of these workshops was to promote apiculture or honey bee keeping in Pakistan. Students, representatives of SMEs, women entrepreneurs and those who wanted to enhance their skills and capabilities in apiculture as their hobby or and business took keen interest in this research based workshop. Attiya Malik, a student of Zoology department of Punjab University Lahore, who also got training of honey bee farming in a workshop held in PU, told, “Collecting honey from wild bee colonies is one of the most ancient human activities and is still practiced by aboriginal societies in parts of Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. Some of the earliest evidence of gathering honey from wild colonies is from cave paintings, dating to around 13,000 BC. So my hobby and training of honey bee keeping is an extension of activities of primitive humans”. She said she wanted to actualize her hobby into a productive activity that could be fruitful for agri habitat and country”s economy as well.
Punjab University has established a European bee “Apis mellifera” farm comprising 200 hives at its New Campus which help provide quality and tasteful honey to the people easily. Research is being carried out for improvement in management techniques, quality queen breeding and control of pests and disease to increase honey yield of colonies.
Punjab University Honeybee Research Project Chairman Dr Muhammad Akhtar said that to feed the honeybees continuously, many floral and other trees were being planted in the campus. He said that beekeeping training programmes and workshops for honeybee management at national and provincial level had been organised for dissemination of technical know-how among students, farmers, extension workers, officers of alien departments and hobbyists.
“Special emphasis is being given on generating awareness about the crucial factor of bee pollination required for increased productivity and PU efforts have brought maximum results. Moreover honey is a natural product of honeybee keeping rather it offers honey, royal jelly, wax, pollen, proplis and bee venom that have innumerable commercial uses,” he elucidated.
The European bee honeybee farm comprising 200 colonies has been established for research, training and teaching purpose. The colonies are presently foraging Citrus plants for honey and honeybee queen production. During a year, some 2424 kg honey was extracted. Pure natural honey produced as a research by-product and packed under hygienic conditions is being provided to the employees and general public by the University. Total sale proceeds of the honey sold so far is more than Rs. 45,25,905. Though this project of Punjab University is not a huge project yet it is big success. If more projects of such kind are started then these can be quite beneficial for agri and industrial sector. Certain training programs like integrated honeybee management for production of honey and other bee keeping products can be beneficial. Management Associate, Dairy and Livestock Sector-Punjab of SMEDA told the main objective of the training was to introduce honeybee farming as source of income and mean to alleviate poverty by creating employment opportunities especially in rural areas. Then, to identify major problems in promoting honeybee farming as profitable enterprise for generating such kind of employment. “Some people raise bees for a hobby, others do it for a business. As a business, it could raise enough to support a small family. If you have the interest or resources to start a honey farm, explore the possibility of getting into business with it. Our guide will help you by providing some basics of starting a honey farm. Honey farming could be a hobby, but it could also be a full-time job that could support a small family. Small bee farmers can produce average of 100 lbs. of honey per year. If you are into honey farming as a hobby, you can turn that interest into a business. If not, and you are outright interested in getting into business, try working as a beekeeper employee for a while, even just part time, to assess whether beekeeping is indeed for you,” she explained.
Beekeeping can be a profitable business in Pakistan. About 7,000 beekeepers are now rearing exotic species, Apis mellifera in the modern beehives. There are about 300,000 colonies producing 7,500 metric ton honey annually. Congenial climate conditions and bee flora in the country provide excellent opportunities for the expansion of beekeeping. Honeybee flora is present on vast areas in all the provinces including Northern areas, FATA and AJK and can support 1,000,000 honeybee colonies. Now there is an immediate need to get benefit from environmental and geographical conditions for better production of honey.
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