Subject: Beekeeping & honey production in Vietnam

From: [email-masked] (Mike Rodgers)
Date: 6 Apr 1995 01:17:05 GMT

Dear netters:

First, I'll apologize up front for breaking any netiquette rules followed 
by sci.agriculture.beekeeping because I havn't "lurked" here very much, 
but I am in a time crunch and I needed to find out some information about 
beekeeping, honey production, pollinating as an industry, as well as bee 
wax uses. Anyway . . to the point.

This January, UN official Roy Morey, on a mission to Vietnam aimed at 
promoting economic growth in rural areas, suggested that a viable cottage 
industry for rural people would be beekeeping. Not only would beekeeping 
provide for a more diversified rural economy, but it would also serve to 
address Vietnam's rural-population problem. Currently, 80% of Vietnamese 
people live in rural areas, and 30% of those live under a poverty level 
defined as not being able to produce 15kg of rice per month. Many of 
these people also do not have a tremendous amount of capital to invest in 
large-scale agriculture ventures and have little land to work with. Hence 
beekeeping was seen as a potential low-cost market for development 
purposes. Furthermore the bees could be used for pollination purposes in 
assisting the re-diversification of Vietnamese plant-life. (Currently 70% 
of all Vietnamese land previously arable is unusable due to bomb-craters 
that the Vietnamese do not have the ability to resurface and desert-like 
areas where no plants whatsoever will grow due to the lingering effects 
of agent orange) 

So, I was wondering what all of your opinions are concerning the 
viability of starting beekeeping as a small industry in Vietnam? Is it 
truely an inexpensive venture?

Also, offhand I was wondering if anyone knew if honey had a large market 
in Indochina or Asia? or for that matter are there any native Asian bees 
suitable for honey production, i.e. I am clueless about beekeeping.

The reason why I am asking these questions is that I am currently 
involved in research at the University of Wisconsin's Center for 
Southeast Asian Studies on alternative cottage industries for rural 
peoples.

Any information that you might have related to my questions would be 
greatly appreciated, and any research I finish on beekeeping as an 
industry in Vietnam, I would put on my personal Web site for others to 
use.

Mike Rodgers
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (David J Trickett)
Date: 11 Apr 1995 05:00:19 GMT

Mike Rodgers ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Dear netters:

: So, I was wondering what all of your opinions are concerning the 
: viability of starting beekeeping as a small industry in Vietnam? Is it 
: truely an inexpensive venture?

It can be; you'll be interestred in knowing that the Vietnamese have been 
using "primitive" moveable frame hives for a long time.  See below.

: Also, offhand I was wondering if anyone knew if honey had a large market 
: in Indochina or Asia? or for that matter are there any native Asian bees 
: suitable for honey production, i.e. I am clueless about beekeeping.

In addition to the journal mentioned in the follow-up post, there is some
good information on these questions in the latest edition of "The Hive and
the Honey Bee."  Included are figures on honey exports (e.g., China
exports huge amounts of honey; Africa exports huge amounts of wax) and
some discussion of the use of Asian (native) vs European honey bees in
Asia.  See if you can get a copy of this book for review.  If you are
unable to, e-mail me and I will send you the basics (when I have a few
moments). 

Dave

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From: [email-masked] (Malcolm Roe)
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 1995 10:09:19 GMT

I suspect Bees for Development could help you.  The following piece,
originally posted by Max Westby ([email-masked]) gives most of
the details.  I should contact Dr Bradbear directly.

I wonder how many of you people know about the quarterly journal called
Beekeeping and Development?  I have been subscribing to this for a couple
of years and find it very interesting, giving a totally different
perspective on beekeeping as a low tech sustainable activity for developing
countries.

The Journal is produced by Bees for Development which is a non-profit
making company.  It is sponsored in part by the UN FAO.  It depends on
subsciptions and donations for its survival and the production costs are
also supported by 'World Vision UK'.
The Editor is Dr Nicola Bradbear. Address: Bees For Development, Troy,
Monmouth, NP5 4AB United Kingdom.  Her e-mail address is
[email-masked]. Fax +44 1600 716167. Subscription rates are
GBP16.00 or USD35.00.  All income is used to provide information for
beekeepers in developing countries.  They have a very interesting booklist
and articles from recent issues deal with such things as low cost hive
design, queen rearing in top bar hives, the problems of misuse of
pesticides in developing countries and their impact on beekeeping etc.  I'm
sure many of you will be as interested in this very worthwhile project as I
am.

-- 
Malcolm Roe                                Phone  :  +44 1442 345104
Crosfield Electronics Ltd                  Fax    :  +44 1442 343000
Hemel Hempstead, Herts. HP2 7RH, UK        E-mail :  [email-masked] 
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From: [email-masked] ("C:WINSOCKKA9QSPOOLMAIL")
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 08:39:25 +0000

> suitable for honey production, i.e. I am clueless about beekeeping.

Vietnam already has a beekeeping industry based on the indigenous honey bee Apis cerana, as well 
as beekeeping with the introduced Apis mellifera.  There is also a tradition of harvesting honey 
from Apis dorsata, using a novel management system.

There is also some excellent research going on at the National Bee Research Centre.

An opportunity to see some of this will come at the third Asian Apiculture Association 
conference, to be held in Vietnam from 6 to 10 October 1996.

A couple of interesting articles are available from the library of the International Bee 
Research Association (IBRA) at [email-masked]

Crane, E et al. (1993) Traditional management system for Apis dorsata in submerged forsts in 
southern Vietnam and central Kalimantan.  Bee World 74(1): 27-40.

Crane, E et al. (1993) Traditional management of Apis cerana using movable-comb hives in 
Vietnam.  Bee World 74(2): 75-85.

An article also in Bee World (Crane, E (1992) Asian honey bees.  Bee World 73(1): 3-4) quotes a 
Chinese manuscript of the third century AD which describes a beekeeping practice still in use 
today in part of Vietnam.
 
-- 
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* Andrew Matheson    E.mail [email-masked]              *
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