A Different Kind of “Buzz” in India
November 21st, 2009
Honey has been sought after in India for centuries. It was considered a gift from the gods; was the first sweet food found in the region; and was believed to give fertility to women, cattle, and crop harvests. Today, beekeeping in India can help rural and tribal families generate extra income, requiring only a few hours per week to maintain a few hives. Different bee species are used depending on the beekeeper’s location within India.
To anyone familiar with apiculture, the mention of bees in India should instantly trigger two words: Apis dorsata, the world’s largest honeybee, sometimes referred to as “The Giant Honeybee.” Apis dorsata live in large, often half-crescent shaped hives that hang down from natural objects like tree branches, or man-made structures like parts of the Taj Mahal. Due to this unique hive structure, honey from this species is difficult to collect. Still to this day, honey gatherers take on the responsibility of harvesting the honey from wild Apis dorsata colonies, just as they did for generations in Old India.
In the countryside, it is common for honey gatherers to bid at an auction for the rights to harvest honey on a given plot of land. It is very common for many Apis dorsata hives to occupy a single large tree, with about twenty kilograms of honey per hive in a good year. This translates to about four tons of honey from one tree! Unfortunately, the honey gatherers use antiquated processing technology, yielding low quality honey. In addition, honey gatherers must climb tall trees and scare the bees with fire, making it impractical to utilize Apis dorsata as a major resource for honey and other bee products.
Throughout India, Apis mellifera, an Italian honeybee, has been introduced in India’s bee industry. Apis mellifera’s popularity is due to it’s ability to be housed in the stereotypical and efficient Langstroth hive. In higher elevations like the Himalayas, Indian beekeepers use Apis cerena, a smaller “mountain bee.” These bees typically make smaller hives and produce less honey, but do not require medications to prevent disease unlike the European honeybees.
It is not uncommon for families in rural villages to have half-a-dozen honeybee colonies in the rural parts of India. Usually, his honey is only used for local consumption. Overall, India generates almost 30,0000 tons of honey per year. About one third of this honey is exported; China exports about ten times as much as India. Only about twenty-five percent of bees in India are utilized for honey production or other bee products. India’s honey production centers include the states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. It has been theorized that there is a great potential for India to increase its total honey production from 7,000 tonnes to three lakh tonnes, or about 330,000 tons exported annually. This leaves a lot of room for a developing honey and bee product market in India.
Overall, the preceding paragraphs were merely a “crash course” in Indian apiculture, which someone could write (and already has written, actually) an entire book on the topic (Click here).
If India’s bee industry could be expanded, should indigenous bees be used, or should more Italian bees be introduced to the region because they are the easiest to care for? Is it more practical to utilize a mass bee industry, or have individual families harvest and locally distribute honey or other bee products? Do you think India is capable of expanding its honey exports fifty-fold? How could Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) play a role in this? While you may not have a wide knowledge about apiculture, I encourage you to ask me or Google any general questions that are buzzing around your mind regarding this unique topic.
-Jay Ponto
Entry Filed under: 2010 Student Blogs, India, Misc.
8 Comments Add your own
1. Lindsay Leaver | November 22nd, 2009 at 11:06 am
You mentioned that the techniques for harvesting Apis dorsata, the Giant honeybee, are antiquated and out of date. It seems that with all the technology we have in the world, we should be able to come up with a way to utilize this amazing resource (I don’t mean technology in the modern, electronic sense of the word).
If they the Giant honeybee hives were able to be harvested efficiently and safely, they wouldn’t have to worry about importing the Italian honeybee or the mountain bee. This would eliminate any disease or damage to the surrounding ecosystem that can result from introducing new species to a place.
Maybe it could be as simple as a project for the global service club at Calpoly. A couple years ago, they took a bicycle water pump (that was designed by some mechanical engineers as their senior project) to Malawi and introduced it to the local people. They got feedback and tested the design. Or on a bigger level, maybe it could be a project for an organization like USAID.
It seems that expanding the honey production could greatly benefit the communities in India, giving people livelihood and an income. Like any expanding industry, there are many factors to consider and many directions that it could go in. Individual families may be able to distribute both internationally and locally, as many of the large companies in India are family run.
2. Frederick Peemoeller | November 24th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Jay,
The honey industry seems like a lucrative business that many rural villages could capitalize on to increase their standard of living. Do you see any technological improvements for gathering honey from the Apis dorsata hives or is it impossible due to its size? It would seem that the Apis dorsata hives could be exploited by the villagers if it was possible that new and improved honey gathering techniques were implemented.
3. Tim Lynds | November 24th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
These are some tough questions to address and there are some possible serious consequences related to them. From what I have read, Colony Collapse Disorder is a serious issue that threatens agriculture as we know it. Without bees, our crops would not be pollinated efficiently and would not produce the food that we depend on. I think any issue related to apiculture in India should be addressed from two perspectives: 1. the welfare of the Indian economy and its people and 2. the welfare of the bees.
If the issues are addressed strictly through perspective 1 it would most likely be best to introduce more Italian bees. These bees would make it possible to create a mass honey industry by allowing Indian apiculturists to consolidate and centralize hives to collect honey. If hives are centralized it may become possible to greatly increase honey production and honey exports.
If the issue is addressed strictly through perspective 2 it would probably be best to not introduce any non-native bee species and harvest honey in the traditional fashion. Though I do not know much about bees or apiculture, I do know that the introduction of a non-native species into a region often has adverse effects on the native populations. Bees are an important resource for us and it would be unwise to do anything that might destroy or disrupt their population.
It is much more difficult to address this issue while considering both perspectives. Anyone with more expertise know the solution?
4. Chase Janvrin | November 25th, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Great blog about an important but easily overlooked topic. A couple questions quickly come to mind; how have Indian beekeepers battled CCD, or is it even a problem in India? If not, Is cross-breeding of American honey bees with Indian bees (or even Italian bees) a possibility? Sounds like S. India has been battling with Thai sacbrood disease. Does this have the same implications to Indian agriculture as CCD does to Central Valley agriculture?
5. Jay Ponto | November 27th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Lindsay and Fred,
As I said in my post, Apis dorsata hives are typically crescent-shaped and hang down from a branch or structure. Here are some good photos:
http://ecoworldly.com/files/2009/10/apis_dorsata_nest_small.jpg
http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/info/proceedings_HTW1/thailand/thai_beetree.jpg
Once I saw a black and white photo of a beekeeper who had an up-side-down, U-shaped frame with an Apis dorsata colony hanging in the frame. I searched for that picture, but I’m currently unable to relocate it.
Apis dorsata like to build their colonies in the half-circle fashion, which is the primary reason why they are not the most efficient bee for humans to exploit. To my knowledge, beekeepers have not been able to sustain an Apis dorsata colony in a different type of hive that allows suitable manipulation. In the words of my former beekeeping teacher, “There is a difference between a bee-haver and a bee-keeper.” A bee-keeper manipulates bee hives to maximize the potential of the honeybees.
Below is a link to a video showing how Apis dorsata colonies are typically harvested. The video lasts six minutes, but flipping through for about a minute will give you the general idea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do1y1bkL14M
Conversely, here is how honey is harvested with Apis mellifera, the Italian honeybee I mentioned earlier:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_MDm1qKSYs&feature=related
The Langstroth hive (the white boxes bees live in that were mentioned, though not by name, at the end of the last youtube video) spares the bees after the honey harvesting, maintaining the colony. Harvesting honey using the Langstroth hives can also preserve the honeycomb so it does not need to be rebuilt (though they half-destroyed the honeycomb in the last video for the larger frames, and completely removed it in the smaller frames).
Getting to my point, using the Langstroth hives preserves existing colonies, can maintain honeycomb, and allows for easy manipulation of the hive (I could elaborate more here). The major inefficiency (among other things) for utilizing Apis dorsata colonies is the destruction of the hive, as seen in the video. Since Apis mellifera will live in Langstroth hives with removable frames, they are a primary choice (depending on climate) for many beginning beekeepers.
Tim,
It would be nice if a way could be found to do something similar with Apis dorsata. Apis mellifera has been imported because it is widely known how to manipulate and care for them. I do not have a solution, but I would be very interested if someone did.
Chase,
I know about CCD in general, but not specifically for India. For this, I had to do some homework!
CCD is a global disaster. It is essentially occurring everywhere. Specifically, there have been reports of CCD in India, but no specific or notable cases that I could find.
For cross-breeding, it could be a possibly. Other than African drones breeding with queens in North America (leading to Africanized bees taking over the hive), I have not heard of bees cross-breeding on their own. Artificial insemination is regularly practiced in apiculture, especially for beekeepers the southern United States. In an academic setting, cross-breeding different species would certainly be interesting. It would also be very nifty if the strains were genetically engineered to produce certain traits…
South India did have a very bad outbreak of the Thai sacbrood virus in the early nineties. Overall, no one has determined a sole cause of CCD, though many theories have been produced. Some believe it is a combination of many factors, one of those definitely being viruses like Thai sacbrood.
Thanks for the comments on bees, everyone! Keep them coming. I’d love to know what else is buzzing around your minds!
6. Jay Ponto | November 27th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Lindsay and Fred,
As I said in the blog post, Apis dorsata colonies are typically crescent-shaped and hang down from preexisting structures, like branches. Here are some good examples:
http://ecoworldly.com/files/2009/10/apis_dorsata_nest_small.jpg
http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/info/proceedings_HTW1/thailand/thai_beetree.jpg
It is because of this hive structure that humans have been unable to utilize Apis dorsata to the potential that Apis mellifera bees are exploited. In the words of my former beekeeping instructor, “There is a difference between a bee-haver and a bee-keeper.” Beekeepers not only watch over bees, but also manipulate their colonies to exploit the full potential of the colony.
Please watch the following video displaying how Apis dorsata honey is harvested. It lasts about six minutes, but you can flip through in about a minute to get the general idea (the guy takes a long time getting his smoker together in the beginning).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do1y1bkL14M
Now, compare that to this video, showing how Western beekeepers harvest honey:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjuIvRXqQHM&feature=related
Note how the entire hive is destroyed when the honey is harvested from the Apis dorsata hive, while the colony remains intact when the honey is extracted from the Apis mellifera colony (for the large frame, not the small one). In the latter case, only frames of honey are removed from the hive, processed, and returned to the hive in a moderately similar state to how they were prior to honey extraction, just now without the honey! This means the bees will not need to expend a considerable amount of time and energy building a new hive. They can skip straight to making honey!
Unfortunately, no method (that I’m aware of) has been developed for making Apis dorsata as lucrative as caring for Apis mellifera. To my understanding, Apis dorsata are selective towards having this half-circle type of hive, which naturally makes it difficult for humans to manipulate them. It would be amazing if some person or organization could develop a method for fixing this dilemma. It could definitely benefit the livelihood and income of many Indian families.
Tim,
Ideally, we would like to use a native bee, but Apis mellifera are so much more attractive to beginning beekeepers because of the reasons stated above, as well as the ease of hive manipulation. With a Langstroth hive (the wooden box all the westerners use), honey, wax, and pollen can be easily harvested. In addition, it is simpler to move bees from hive to hive, find queen bees, produce more queen bees, etcetera with a Langstroth hive. Beekeepers see this ease and are instantly hooked. Otherwise, they’ll be risking their lives climbing trees to get Apis dorsata honey. I would be amazing if there was a method to utilize the Apis dorsata colonies.
Chase,
Excellent questions. Unfortunately, I can’t answer all of them, but I did some homework and I’ll do my best.
CCD is a worldwide catastrophe. It is occurring everywhere, and India is no exception. I was aware it occurred there, but I was unable to find any specific examples other than the Thai sacbrood virus in the early 1990s.
Overall, there is not a single grand solution for explaining CCD. Many people have theories. Among those ideas, one states that CCD is caused by a combination of many factors all contributing to honeybee disappearance. Thai sacbrood would definitely be one of the reasons for CCD in that theory.
China has actually had all its honeybees obliterated in some regions. There, humans pollinate trees by hand using feather dusters (essentially) attached to long poles.
For implications to Central Valley agriculture, I do not believe Indian beekeeping is that advanced. Bees from all over the country are trucked into California, and I do not believe that is the case in India. The threat of CCD in both regions exists and should be feared.
Great questions, everyone! Keep up the good work!
7. Michael Minasian | November 28th, 2009 at 12:59 am
To look at it from another perspective, how does the quality/tastiness of the honey compare from all of the different bees? Are the Apis Dorsata any better in that sense than the Italian or American bees? If so, does it affect market price? Is this something which would typically be delineated at sale? i.e. This honey comes from X bees. I have seen different types of honey for sale in the states such as clover honey etc. Does this bear any resemblance to the bee type?
It seems to me that the questions above regarding the business of the bees is an important consideration to both the people of India, as well as the decision over whether or not to introduce other species. If new species are simply easier to harvest, but produce inferior product, then perhaps the economic gains in efficiency would not be realized in the market price, and the environmental impact isn’t even debatable.
8. William Ary | November 28th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Bees are central to the expansion and development of many different types of agriculture the world over because of the need for pollinating insects to produce fertile seed. I think that India will have to take the industrialization and expansion of its agriculture into the decision to import bees. Unfortunately, that may mean that indigenous bees may disappear or become rare. I think a better solution is to naturally breed Giant Honeybees to be more compatible with Langstroth hives without the use of genetic engineering, the consequences of which are still poorly understood. Alternatively, Indian beekeepers may find a new hive geometry that is more compatible with them. The Indian bees should be better suited to the climate and ecology of India in addition to avoiding an upset to Indian ecology, so I think the smart long term solution is for Indians to work with the bees they have.
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