Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
colonization is difficult, a specially designed gourd or small earthenware pot is
baited and used to trap bees, which are then transferred into the beehive.
In recent years improvement in apiculture in tropical Africa has led to increasing
adoption of the Kenyan top-bar beehive constructed from hardwood (Plate 4).
Other types of improved beehives in use are the Langstroth hive and the Tanzanian
transitional long hive, but these are less common.
Rural beekeepers have extensively adopted the use of the Kenyan top-bar hives.
These are kept in the agroforestry home gardens, under trees in the farms, on fal-
low lands, or in conserved forests, sometimes along with the traditional beehives.
Feeding
The natural fauna in the farms and around farmsteads form the base of forage
for the honeybees. The African honeybee is a ubiquitous forager. Its long pro-
boscis enables it to forage from flowers with short or long corollas (Adjaloo
and Yeboah-Gyan, 1991). A wide range of melliferous plant species found in
the forest, savanna, and forest-savanna transitional areas offer suitable sources
of nectar and pollen. Common forage plant species include agricultural crops
like oil-palm, mango, orange, lime and other citrus plants, pineapple, guava,
cashew, cassava, solanaceous, and cucurbit vegetables. Other important non-
cultivated or semi-cultivated species such as the shea tree, silk cotton,
mahogany, lantana, and a large number of flowering trees, shrubs, and grasses
also constitute an important component of the forage crops. The wide diversity
of non-crop and crop plants on the peasant holdings provide year-round sources
of feed for the honeybees. The farmers also introduce species that are known to
support beekeeping into the farmlands, and they take steps to protect the natu-
ral vegetation to create an enabling environment for the bees, enhance their
feeding, and prevent them from absconding. The African bee, unlike the
European bee, is not known to die in its hive from starvation. They abscond
from the hives for a better environment when threatened by starvation. This
makes it imperative to provide optimum management practices, which will curb
swarming. Little, if any, supplementary feeding with sugar syrup is practised.
Harvesting
The cool period of night is regarded as the best time for honey harvesting. During
harvesting, honey-hunters smoke the hives of wild bees to drive them out. The
combs are subsequently collected and squeezed to release the honey, which is
stored in beer bottles or gallon-size plastic bottles for sale. Many rural operators
of the Kenyan top-bar beehive system also collect and squeeze the combs to
release honey. Honey obtained this way has poor quality and hence low market
value. The system adopted by commercial beekeepers involves the use of special
