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 *NEW*: "Beeekeeping in Haiti" American Bee Journal January 2010

 

*NEW*: "Kenya Top Bar Hive in Haiti" video

 

 

 

John Ogonowski and Doug Bereuter Farmer to Farmer Program

Volunteer Trip Report Cover Sheet

 

Name of Volunteer: __ Conrad Bérubé___________________________________

 

Country of Service:       __Haiti________________   Dates of Trip:     _June 12-July 1, 2009_______

 

 

Recommendations Made by the Volunteer:           

 

Please summarize the recommendations you made to the groups/organization(s) you assisted.  Details of the recommendations should be included in the trip report – this is a summary table only. 

 

 

Apiarists of Jacquesyl and Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer Conrad Bérubé with a Kenya top bar hive which they built earlier in the day and into which they have transferred the contents of a fixed-comb hive.

 

Farmer to Farmer Program - Trip Report -- Conrad Bérubé

see also "Beeekeeping in Haiti" American Bee Journal January 2010

 

2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

Other volunteers have noted some progress in the practice of transferring fixed comb hives to moveable frame hives  although improper frame spacing was a common problem in apiaries, in the identification and treatment of hive maladies and indicated that it seemed likely that the incursion of African(ized) Honey Bees (AHB) was taking place in parts of Haiti.  FtF volunteer have also worked on packaging and labeling issues and in working wax up into various products such as stamped foundation wax, candles and ornaments. 

 

• I visited 9 apiaries and noted that the bulk of apiarists did not have access to an extractor and therefore had to cut out the comb to harvest honey by squeezing-- thereby negating any advantage the (Langstroth) movable frame hive has over the (Kenya Top Bar) movable comb hive.  In addition the apiarists did not seem to have a clear understanding of the bee space and its application to frame sizing and spacing.  Most hives had Varroa mites but not at numbers sufficient in themselves to cause debilitation of the honeybee population (although likely at levels high enough to serve as disease vectors if viruses are or become present).

• I believe that client apiarists are challenged by a dearth of economic resources and do not have the wherewithal to make beekeeping their primary economic undertaking.  Nonetheless, beekeeping can make a significant contribution to their livelihood if approached properly.
• I shared my observations with the apiarists both verbally and with video and hand-out supplements.
• Benito and I prepared a French pamphlet describing how to construct a Kenya Top Bar Hive and how to transfer bees into it from a fixed comb hive. 
• In three communities (Jacquesyl, Aquin and Port-au-Piment) I coordinated the construction of KTBH's (1 in each community) and left wood for the construction of two nucleus/swarm traps based on the same principles in Aquin.

 

Apiarists in Haiti face three major hurdles: a lack of technical skills, a lack of economic resources and a lack of general infrastructure.  All three dynamics can be addressed to some extent by promoting the (Kenya Top Bar) movable comb hive rather than the (Langstroth) movable frame hive.  

 

Follow-up activities should include at least two intensive, five-day short-courses in a live-in training centre which focus on hands-on training at apiaries established for the purpose.  This should involve cooperation between multiple NGO's pooling their resources and expertise. 

 

3. BACKGROUND

 

The purpose of this assignment was to evaluate the situation of the beekeeping industry in the north eastern region of Haiti – observing the types of bees found, determining and listing the limiting factors faced by apiarists, and evaluating the current beekeeping strategy of Makouti Agro Enterprise.  General objectives for the trip included

·        Visit 10 apiaries selected by Makouti Agro Enterprise to make recommendations for improvement.

·        Understand the situation of those apiarists

·        Share observations with the apiarists (owners of the apiaries and the trainers)

·        Prepare a list of activities and/or requirements for each apiary in order for them to improve operation

·        Advise and assist with any drastic changes, if applicable, to improve operation (such as changes of location or tools, or killing colonies or queens)

 

(The longer-term goal of the Haiti Beekeeping Project is to have 10 new apiaries, with new methods to increase production and have a demonstrative apiary and each site.)

 

PREVIOUS VOLUNTEER WORK

 

Other volunteers have worked in other geographic regions on similar projects.  Cathie Skove  (November 4 - 17, 2007) worked in several departments of Haiti - #9 South East, #5 North and #6 North East.  Her project goals focused on preparing hives to receive the crop, cover general hive management, including swarm prevention, and give seminars on management with associations and groups.   Her report noted concerns that pesticides (malathion), disease (chalk brood and varroa) and poor management (general neglect and poor frame spacing) were restricting the proper development of hives. She noted some progress in the practice of transferring fixed comb hives to moveable frame hives but that the process is not yet perfected or complete.  She remarked that many of the apiarists are able to identify and treat varroa (using powdered sugar applications and screened bottom boards) as a result of Farmer-to-Farmer input.  Don Hopkins (July 20 - August 1, 2008) participated in the initiation of the First Haitian Beekeeping Congress of the North of Haiti as a follow-up to apiary visits that he and Dr. Dewey Caron conducted in 2006 in the same region.  He thought that the Congress was very well received by the attendants and useful for their progress to become better apiarists.  Sampling they conducted indicated that it seemed likely that the incursion of African(ized) Honey Bees (AHB) was taking place in parts of Haiti.  His experience, in contrast to Ms. Skovie's, was that many of the apiarists are not familiar with the Varroa mite or of its effects upon a colony of bees, even though it was present in virtually every apiary in which he looked (in about 1/3 of the hives).  He noted his perception that improper frame spacing was a common problem in apiaries.  Other volunteers have worked on packaging and labeling issues.  Virginia Webb trained apiarists and women's groups on the processing of beeswax and its working up into various products such as stamped foundation wax (to minimize the production of drone comb in movable frame hives), candles and ornaments. 

 

4. ACTIVITIES/RESULTS

 

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 

• All told I was only able to visit 9 apiaries (3 in Jacquesyl, 2 in Dubout, 2 in Aquin, 1 in Camp Perrin and 1 in Port-au-Piment) as opposed to the original 10 planned for in the volunteer assignment.  Some of the inspections were very cursory as time did not permit detailed examination.  Nonetheless, it was readily apparent that a number of issues were common amongst client apiarists.  The bulk of apiarists did not have access to an extractor and therefore had to cut out the comb to harvest honey by squeezing-- thereby negating any advantage the (Langstroth) movable frame hive has over the (Kenya Top Bar) movable comb hive.  In addition the apiarists did not seem to have a clear understanding of the bee space and its application to frame sizing and spacing.  Most hives had Varroa mites but not at numbers sufficient in themselves to cause debilitation of the honeybee population (although likely at levels high enough to serve as disease vectors if viruses are or become present).

• I believe that I gained a good understanding of the situation of the client apiarists.  It seems to me that they are challenged by a dearth of economic resources and of time since they are engaged in other income generating activities (farming, fishing, etc) and do not have the wherewithal to make beekeeping their primary economic undertaking.  Nonetheless, beekeeping can make a significant contribution to their livelihood if approached properly.
• I shared my observations with the apiarists both verbally and with video and hand-out supplements.
• Benito and I prepared a French pamphlet (which Benito was working on translating into Creole) describing how to construct a Kenya Top Bar Hive and how to transfer bees into it from a fixed comb hive. 
• In three communities (Jacquesyl, Aquin and Port-au-Piment) I coordinated the construction of KTBH's (1 in each community) and left wood for the construction of two nucleus/swarm traps based on the same principles in Aquin.

 

I had the most contact with the apiarists of Jacquesyl with whom I spent two days in the field and a short period in a classroom setting (filling in the lulls during Virginia Webb's wax processing session).  The principal result of this contact was the construction and transfer of bees into a Kenya Top Bar Hive.  Similarly, we constructed KTBH's, as noted above, in Aquin and Port-au-Piment (one in each community-- it being noteworthy that the wood, including top bars, was cut entirely with hand tools for the latter hives).

 

The following are excerpts from my daily log most pertinent to project objectives—a "chattier"/fuller copy of my log is also available:

 

2009 June 12-13

 

At the Hotel I freshened up and wrote a couple of e-mails.  Then I called Brian Oakes 3770-9499, who worked with CHF International, now owns and operates a mango plantation and is interested in promoting beekeeping in the area.  We discussed how the Kenya Top Bar hive could be used in stages (both figuratively, as a stepping stone to developing apicultural skills, and literally, as the brood chamber for a super of movable frame boxes) as a transition from bee-having to beekeeping.  He and his wife are very interested in promoting beekeeping and have taken recent steps to import used beekeeping equipment to Canada I told him that I didn’t think that it would be a great idea to import used equipment to Haiti.  Given the run-of-the-mill problems of foul brood and nosema, which are common in North America, it is not a great idea to move used equipment outside of their immediate provenance.  Add to that the uncertainties around Colony Collapse Disorder and it really argues against such purchases.  Unless a provincial apiarist can certify the hives as disease free (and even that is not a guarantee) then purchasing a couple of bee box kits are a better investment.  I recommended that he take the packaged kit to a local carpenter so that the carpenter could see how the shouldered sides and top and bottom bars are cut en masse.  I recommended that an even better option would be see what kind of yields could be achieved with top bar hives.  Mr. Oakes indicated that candles were a common product in local boutiques and were, he thought, usually beeswax.  We discussed how beeswax and honey could be used as the raw materials for cosmetics at both the cottage industry and industrial levels and Mr. Oakes informed me that essential oil extraction is an established undertaking in Haiti.  I suggested that skin care products could be elaborated from coconut oil or other emollients as is commonly done using the shea butter produced in West Africa.  He offered that castor oil is an export product of Haiti and serves as the raw material for glycerin, another important component of cosmetics.

 

2009 June 14

 

Met with Brian Oakes who came to the hotel in the morning, we exchanged electronic resources and discussed developmental beekeeping.  Mr. Oakes also shared his enthusiasm for promoting ecotourism in the area of Port-au-Piment where he lives, particularly as relates to the cave resources in the area.  Mr. Oakes is willing and able to coordinate development efforts on several fronts (apiculture, general agronomy, micro-enterprise, eco-tourism, etc.) in the area of Port-au-Piment area and I believe would be a very valuable partner for Makouti and Partners of the Americas/FtF. 

 

Soon after arrival at the Hotel Roi Christophe, I met with Virginia and discussed our mutual interests and backgrounds and later Met with Benito and Papy from FtF and, Herve and Anderson on from Makouti for a general discussion of the logistics for the next couple of days.  Vehicle problems of the last couple of days indicate that we may have to get creative in arranging logistics to get out into the field. 

 

We discussed at some length how grapefruit leaves could be burned in a smoker as a treatment for varroa in combination with powdered sugar rolls and bottom screens.  Information on IPM for varroa is summarized on my website at:

 

http://www3.telus.net/conrad/bz1.htm and http://www3.telus.net/conrad/bz2.htm (also available with the electronic data provided to PoA)

 

The use of grapefruit leaves is discussed at: http://www.beesfordevelopment.org/info/info/disease/varroa.shtml

 

We also discussed the fact that mango leaves do not make an appropriate smoker fuel:

 

From http://www.findyourfate.com/astrology/Plants/Trees/mango-tree.html:

 

 "Burning of mango wood leaves and debris is not advised - toxic fumes can cause serious irritation to eyes and lungs. Mango leaves are considered toxic and can kill cattle or other grazing livestock."

 

From Introduction to Fruit Crops by Mark Rieger  at http://books.google.ca/books?id=vUXKIkjDtAQC&pg=RA1-PA268&lpg=RA1-PA268&dq=mango+leaves+smoker&source=bl&ots=FZA57x2KVB&sig=llYh0LJemMWazEBoN0tZnuNMHaU&hl=en&ei=PGM2StX3J6HKtgfQ8dD4Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2:

 

"Mango sap is toxic, causing a rash similar to poison ivy on the skin. The active principles causing sap toxicity are named for mango: mangiferin, mangiferic acid, and mangiferol. The allergenic principle is identified as 3-pentadecyl catechol which occurs throughout the Anacardiaceae. Livestock may be killed by excessive ingestion of mango leaves. Breathing the smoke from burning leaves or the wood of mango can cause severe irritation."

 

2009 June 15

 

In the morning I worked on translating a baseline survey for apiarists (while Benito attempted yet again, successfully this time, to free my bags from their captivity in the clutches of the airline).  The survey will probably be of greater utility in new client communities—but it will at least serve to remind me to ask about certain issues that might otherwise slip my mind.  In the afternoon (after a very emotional reunion with the clean underwear in my liberated luggage) Benito and went to the recently inaugurated PoA/FtF office where we transferred the instructional materials and information that I brought with me that included 2 printed copies of the French version of Small Scale Beekeeping (Apiculture a Petite Echelle [also available in PDF format), a set of newsprint posters on various management techniques, an extended set of laminated illustrations and photos for use in extension activities, electronic French and English beekeeping texts and equipment catalogs and technical information, as requested, on identifying African(ized) honeybees.  I gave Benito (and later Papy) a brief introduction to the materials.  Virginia, Chaly and Papy returned from their day in the field and Virginia gave us a debriefing about her activities. 

 

 

2009 June 16

 

Elias, Guy and Wilguince met us when we arrived in Jacquesyl.  We inspected a number of hives in two apiaries.  All of the dozen or so hives we opened had frames but none could really be considered "movable frames", in the sense intended, because the frames were not arrayed to incorporate the concept of the "bee space", that is, to ensure that the midline of frames is maintained at the distance (approximately 34 mm) which bees will maintain naturally between honeycombs.  Virtually all of the frames had "cross-comb" across their midlines rather than the combs being built along the length of the frames or, if the combs did, in fact parallel the frames, there were two or sometimes three combs attached to the frame.  I demonstrated for the group and had them practice building a guideline of wax stuck to the midline of the top bar to encourage the bees to construct their comb along the bar's length.  Similarly, we discussed the concept of the bee space and how this is incorporated into the Kenya Top Bar Hive (KTBH) which I introduced using a small model and a video which we viewed on my laptop.  We found varroa in the two hives in which we looked for it using drone comb inspection.  In addition, I showed Chaly the proper way to put on a bee veil, practiced the proper manner in which to handle a queen (using drones), demonstrated how to remove a sting for the minimum level of envenomation and demonstrated the use of smoke on one's skin as an additional means of personal protection.

 

After working the bees Wilguince showed off the rabbit hutches he constructed and manages with inputs from Makouti and in which he takes obvious pride.  In the afternoon back at the FtF office Chaly assisted in repairing my smoker which had lost one of the bolts which secures the bellows. 

 

At dinner we had an interesting discussion about African bees and public safety issues.  It has been my experience that African bees, in both the Americas and the continent from which they originate, are manageable and can offer significant advantage to small scale apiarists given the social realities in the developing world.  African bees are, however, likely to be considered a less attractive alternative to European bees, in the relatively more affluent and industrialized portions of the New World.  It is to be remembered that apiarists, particularly queen breeders, have a vested interest in promoting European bee stock in order to delay the ingress of African bees into new territories or to create a greater market for their European queen stock.  It should also be kept in mind that Africans have coexisted with African bees for thousands of years and have successfully used those bees as a resource for as long a period.  Likewise, although beekeeping has changed significantly during transitions from bee management based on European-derived bees to African-derived bee stocks, the social landscape in the regions where this transition has been nearly total for the most part continue to operate in as functional a manner as they did prior to the arrival of African bees.   

 

2009 June 17

 

Papy and Chaly and I went to Dubout to revise the hives of M. Louis Zephyr.  He has been keeping bees for about forty years and is a very accomplished beekeeper.  He has his own extractor (which was apparently imported—initially I'd assumed that he'd made it so I neglected to ask him its provenance, but upon review of the photos I noticed that it is stamped with the logo of a U.S. equipment company.  M. Zephyr maintains a rustic honey house near his apiary where he stores his equipment and in which he extracts and stores his honey.  He uses a watering can to apply kerosene to the dirt floor of the shed and around the building in order to discourage ants.  He showed us the set-up that he uses for filtering residual wax from cell cappings and burr comb.  The waxy remainders to which much honey stills adheres is placed in a tightly woven basket supported above a collection tub over which is draped a cotton cloth which is cinched off to prevent the entry of rodents and insects.  M. Louis's apiary was well situated and well maintained.  He has considerable skills as a carpenter and has constructed all of his own equipment.  The hives that he has built appeared to be of a standard size-- which permits the interchange of boxes and frames.  It was apparent that M. Louis had a good understanding of the bee space and its utilization in hive management, as combs were drawn out parallel to the long axis of the frames with only one comb per frame. 

Louis Zephyr of Dubout is a master beekeeper has well-built frame hives, an imported extractor and other quality equipment which he understands how to operate. M. Dubout, would be an excellent resource as both a carpenter and a co-facilitator in training sessions.

When he has insufficient frames to fill a brood box he maintains the frames he does have such that the midline of the combs is maintained at the appropriate spacing (about 35 mm in the brood nest, slightly wider in the honey supers).  We sampled drone comb for varroa but did not detect any.  Louis indicated that he had treated his hives by dusting the bees with powdered sugar but was disappointed that he had lost several colonies which he attributed to Varroa.  However, when questioned he said that he had not seen significant numbers of Varroa prior to applying the sugar.  I suggested that he should not apply Varroa treatments until he had detected the mites using a sugar roll or drone brood check in each hive.  Papy indicated that the threshold used in Haiti to initiate treatment is 5 mites in a roll of 200 bees, about a quarter cup.  This threshold is lower than the fifteen mite threshold that I have seen in some recommendations—however as sugar treatments only cause the mites to drop rather than killing them the lower threshold is probably appropriate.  Papy and I explained to Louis and his cousin (a retired beekeeper) that the sugar dusting method of varroa control is best used in conjunction with a screened bottom board and oil-paper trap.  We also indicated that recent research has indicated that smoking hives with the fumes from burning grapefruit leaves can induce a drop of up to 95% of the parasite load on adult bees (however, like sugar treatments, it will not impact mites that are attacking the brood as these are physically protected from such treatments as they are enclosed inside cells.  Papy also reviewed for M. Louis the use of Amivar, the use of which is contraindicated during nectar flows such as that currently underway.  Amivar is usually applied in late April and sometimes again in late September although for the second knock-down date organic controls are sometimes.  With the use of a model and some videos, I explained the design of the Kenya Top Bar Hive.  I asked M. Louis if he might be willing to assist in the construction of one of these intermediate technology hives as an example for new or less skilled apiarists.  He indicated that he was too busy with current chores but that he might be able to help in the future.  He also indicated that he would be willing to serve as a resource to other Haitians in a capacity as mentor or trainer.  I believe that M. Louis would be an excellent resource as both a carpenter and a co-facilitator in training sessions.  In addition, I believe he would be a good person to contract to construct and manage a demonstration KTBH. 

 

2009 June 18

 

In the afternoon we shopped for wood for the construction of a model KTBH and visited the nascent training centre and rabbit hutch. 

 

2009 June 19

 

I attended Virginia's wax-working seminar.  I asked Virginia during a lull in the session if there might be time at the end of her session for me to show the women how to make cold cream and she assented so I went out to find supplies.  I wasn't able to find any cocoanut oil or borax as I had hoped so picked up some vegetable oil and petroleum jelly and an egg.  I demonstrated making moisturizing skin cream using 1 part wax, 2 parts water and 3 parts petroleum jelly (in this case the parts being the caps of 5-gallon water bottles-- a great number of which were readily at hand as the office shares space with a purveyor of treated water).  We mixed the melted wax with the petroleum jelly until the latter was completely dissolved.  Then we added hot water of approximately the same temperature and stirred vigorously.  Then we added the yolk of the egg, which acts as an emulsifier, and some cologne which Asnel happened to have.  The session seemed to be well received.

As an impromptu add-on to FtF volunteer Virginia Webb's wax-working seminar Conrad Bérubé demonstrated how moisturizing skin lotion can be made from many commonly available oils, beeswax and water.

 

Benito called and indicated that he had been delayed and that we should go ahead and buy the wood for making a KTBH.  We were able to get the wood and bamboo for a reasonable price after we had explained that we were part of a development project.  Because we were somewhat pressed for time now I decided that we should have the top bars cut with a power saw.  I was so focused on the task at hand that I neglected to work out the price of the job prior to getting the order under way.  When I asked the price I was shocked when the price was quoted as 3,000 gourds-- the equivalent of $75 US! I told Papy that as a munificent gesture of training the trainer I was going to let him try to get the fellow down to a more reasonable price.  Papy got the proprietor to reduce the price to 2,800 gourds-- which I thought was still way too high so I tried to appeal to the fellow's better nature by telling him that God would bless him if he would call it even at $40 U.S., but that if he stuck with the figure he'd quoted I told him that God would probably only tell him "good afternoon".  He was unconvinced so we calculated out what 2,800 gourds worked out to in U.S. dollars so I could pay him.  The price came out to $66.6 U.S.  ”Ah-ha!" I said, "you see?!  The 'number of the Beast'"!  The fellow, apparently but slightly convinced that the Hand of God was at work, only lowered the price to an even $60.00.  Divine intervention just isn't what it used to be.

 

2009 June 20

 

Benito and I went out to Jaquesyl and met with Wilguince, Guy, Elias, James, Jean-Baptiste and a number of other community members who became interested in our activities.  I presented some videos of the Kenya top-bar hive, distributed hand-outs of its dimensions and explained its basic design including the bee space, handling of comb, proper smoking technique, the use of smaller hive-boxes as swarm traps, supering KTBH's with movable comb hives, hanging techniques, pest control and tips for transferring rustic hives and attracting swarms.  The group participated in building the hive from the pre-cut lumber and in applying wax to the top-bars.  Benito even got on the air with a local radio station and explained what we were doing.  After lunch we went out to the apiary and transferred bees from a fixed comb hive into the KTBH with apparent success.  The group seemed very satisfied with their work and interested in the KTBH as they perceived that it is considerably easier and cheaper to build than a movable frame hive. 

click here for: "Kenya Top Bar Hive in Haiti" video     James, an apiarist in the town of Jacquesyl in the north-west of Haiti participates in the construction of a Kenya top bar hive.	Educational beekeeping videos shown on a laptop computer became a "mini-cine" as the townspeaople in Jacquesyl dubbed it.
	Little hammocks made from strips of cloth can be used to support combs transferred from a rustic hive into a Kenya top bar hive. The bees will attach the comb to the barwithn a three ofr four days. Often in Haiti's heat combs that are siimply stuck with wax to top bars will overheat, pulll loose and fall to the hive floor before the bees have a chance to firmly attach them.
Handles on the Kenya top bar hive can be used to move the hive and also provide a handy spot to hold combs romoved from the hive during ahive revision.	Apiarists of Jacquesyl and Farmer-to-Farmer Country CoordinatorBenito Jasmin with a Kenya top bar hive which they built earlier in the day and into which they have transferred the contents of a fixed-comb hive.

 

2009 June 22

 

Noe from Plaisance, Elias, Guy, Jean Baptiste and James from Jaquesyl, Nicodemus from Caracol attended Virginia's stamped wax session;  I assisted with filling in the lulls with a video on disease recognition and problem solving when the wax press didn't work (putting it out into the sun until it was hot lead to the desired result of imprinting the sheets of beeswax that the participants had made—the first sheet wound up getting wax all over the gridiron because the sheet was not fully covered with plastic as it should have been but this was easily cleaned off with boiling water).  I also demonstrated how thin strips of cardboard could be coated with beeswax and used as starter strips in movable frame and movable comb hives.  I provided hand-outs from Apiculture a Petite Echelle that covered the production of wax sheets, the construction of a solar wax melter, disease symptoms and the fabrication of an appropriate tech stamped wax maker (made from plaster of Paris). 

 

FtF volunteer Conrad Bérubé supplemented a session conducted by FtF volunteer Virginia Webb with hand-outs from Apiculture a Petite Echelle that covered the production of wax sheets, the construction of a solar wax melter, disease symptoms and the fabrication of an appropriate tech stamped wax maker (made from plaster of Paris).

 

2009 June 23

 

Chaly, Papy and I traveled to Jacquesyl where we met with Wilguince, Elias, Guy, James and Henri.  We checked on the KTBH into which we had transferred comb from a fixed comb hive.  There was no sign of eggs or the queen and I thought we might have killed her during the transfer.  I demonstrated how a comb with young larvae can be transferred into a queenless hive and the cells below those containing eggs can be opened up to encourage the workers to draw out queen cells from them.  All those in attendance practiced handling comb and we closed up the hive.  We were about to leave when Chaly noticed a ball of bees on a nearby tree which contained a queen (more than likely the one from the rustic hive which had flown away or been dropped during our somewhat frantic ministrations during the transfer a few days before).  I told the group that after a queen has been separated from the colony for a few days they may not recognize her scent and may attack her-- so it is better to protect her from the workers while they become reacquainted with her odor.  We quickly made a cage out of screen material from one of Wilguince's veils and suspended the cage in the center of the nest.  I explained that fruit candy can be used to make a stopper for such a cage; the bees will eat the candy and release the queen after they have been rehabituated to her.  Since we didn't have any candy we used a small piece of comb to seal one end of the hive (the other having been tied off with fishing line). We also made a spacing device for movable comb hives using nails driven into a top bar at intervals of 34 mm.

 

 

2009 June 24

 

Benito and I met at the hotel and discussed the applicability of different hives as well as the applicability of the contributions of different Farmer to Farmer volunteers.  Benito needed to arrange for the repair of the vehicle that had broken down on Sunday and this called to mind my comparison of the (Langstroth) movable frame hive to an expensive car and the (KTBH) movable comb hive to a motorcycle.  Everybody would love to be given a Mercedes but many people would choose to buy a motorcycle if they were going to spend their own money.  And for those that do have the Mercedes they may find that they are spending more money and effort on the vehicle than is worth the value they get out of it.  In the same manner as operating and maintaining an expensive car in Haiti, there are many complications to the use of movable comb hive that make its operation much less than optimal for apiarists with less skills or less money than the typical North American beekeeper. 

 

 

I organized the photos I have taken thus far and put together a couple of versions of a pamphlet in French (extracting the bulk of the text from Apiculture a Petite Echelle and using Google language tools for assistance in translating hive plans)

 

 

2009 June 27

 

At the hotel in Aquin I chatted with a fellow, Farrell, who works with a missionary aid orphanage, Project 127.  I gave him a DVD with information on beekeeping and encouraged him to talk to Bado or Joseph Antoinier if he was interested in starting any kind of beekeeping enterprise/training for the orphanage (they were going out that day to work on a garden at the orphanage and I suggested that this would be an ideal location for a demonstration apiary).  When I spoke with some of Farrell's colleagues later in the day they mentioned that Farrell had spoken to them about the FtF work—which indicated to me that Farrell, at least, had a real interest.  FtF should contact Farell (Farrell  Burton, farrell.burton@yellowcorp.com, http://www.project127-haiti.com/ourstaff.htm) or other staff at Project 127 to discuss further exploration/collaboration—specifically whether they might be willing to house apiarists and/or sponsor  representatives from their own client group as well as those from the FtF client group during a five-day short-course. 

At the shop of the Apiculture Association of Aquin local carpenters cut wood for and constructed a Kenya top bar hive using hand tools.

Local craftsmen constructed an extractor from locally available materials.	Handles on the Kenya top bar hive can be used to move the hive and also provide a handy spot to hold combs romoved from the hive during ahive revision.

A strip of wax must be installed along top bars to guide bees in the construction of comb. In some areas top bars are cut with a flange or to be wedge shaped in cross-section as additional inducement for bees to build straight comb-- however this is significantly more work and is by no means necessary so long as some type of guide is provided. Other beekeepers prefer to cut a grove along the lengh of top bars into which melted wax can be (carefully) poured or into which a cardboard strip soaked in melted beeswax can be inserted. In this last case make sure that the cardboard strips extend no more than 6 mm (1/4) from the top bar, otherwise the bees may begin constructing comb along the bottom edge without attaching it to the top bar itself-- which will pull the strip in In any case only beeswax should be used, the bees will not work on guides containing parafin or other waxes besides beeswax .

 

Ronald, Papy Bado and I spent most of the morning in a carpentry workshop in Aquin supervising the cutting of the wood and top bars for a couple of KTBHs and swarm traps.  It is worth noting that even though the carpenters used the same top bar to mark the width the dimensions tended to expand and we wound up shaving down the majority of the top-bars to 3.4 cm.  In the afternoon we took the wood to the apiarists' carpentry workshop where I had expected that there would be a number of apiarists collected to participate in the session but Bado indicated that he had not had time to notify apiculturalists in the area.  I walked Joseph through the process of putting one of the hives together and put wax guides on all the bars.  After lunch we transferred one of Bado's fixed comb hives into the KTBH.  The apiary was pretty filthy since the bee-yard doubled as a pig-pen, so I stressed to Bado the importance of hygiene in harvesting operations—which only occurred to me after I had eaten some of the honeycomb that had been lying on the nylon bag we had laid down as a working surface—which I remembered, too late, that we had just picked up where it had lain discarded in the yard. Bado had declined on my suggestion that he smoke his skin and hair and did not wear or carry a veil while we worked on the transfer.  I also did not wear my veil but had it handy in case of emergency.  Bado got stung on the ear while we were working and left the apiary for a considerable time while Joseph, Papy and I continued working.  We completed the hive transfer without any major incidents (only five stings amongst the four of us—Bado taking the brunt of the injuries) for what was a fairly major operation. 

 

2009 June 28

 

When we got to Port-a-Piment we met with Jean-Robert and Joseph Seramieu, both agronomists working in the area, the latter with some beekeeping experience.  We discussed our hopes that FtF, Soul of Haiti and other interested parties in the area could work together in a coordinated manner to promote beekeeping in the area.  In previous discussions with Benito he had basically said that my proposal for putting on a five-day participants-live-at-the-training-centre-for-the-duration seminar was basically a non-starter.  I encouraged him to look for some kind of USAID grant for such but I mentioned to Jean-Robert and Joseph my idea that Soul of Haiti might be willing to put up the dough-- at least for training in the Port-a-Piment area.  FtF has already expressed interest in bringing me back and I'm sure I could work it out that I could do the training for Soul if they put up the dough for room and board and venue for the training.  I indicated that Soul of Haiti wouldn't have to pay for my airfare or time if they allow some Makouti members to attend.  I think this is a really good opportunity for NGO's (who, it's been my experience, rarely collaborate) to work together... FtF should contact Brian (Brian Oakes, 3770 9499, anbamango@gmail.com) and Jean-Robert (Jean-Robert Isidor 3782 3433) and Murphy Conor (of Soul Haiti) to discuss further exploration/collaboration—specifically whether they might be willing to house apiarists and/or sponsor  representatives from their own client group as well as those from the FtF client group during a five-day short-course. 

Milieu, an apiarist in Port-a-Piment, agreed to allow one of his fixed comb hives to be transferred into a Kenya top bar hive to serve as a model for other apiarists in the area.

 

Jean-Robert introduced us to an apiarist, Milieu, who had about ten hives in a fairly confined apiary behind his house. All were log hives which Milieu said were "new"-which I took to mean that they had been established from swarms this season. The colonies were all fairly strong and seemed healthy-a good indication that local bee resources are plentiful in the area. Milieu was somewhat reluctant to agree to allow us to transfer one of his fixed comb hives into a KTBH but after a little chatting Bado and Jean-Robert were able to convince him that the idea was worthwhile. Bado did a fine job putting the KTBH together-although he did not invite those present to participate- but lost points when he put on my bee jacket without asking me beforehand-I'd already promised one of my jackets to Jean-Robert and Bado had apparently not brought his protective equipment along on the journey. I lent Bado a pair of coveralls instead-- but we didn't have another veil so he did not join us in the transfer operation as he was reluctant to get stung again. He did, however, come over to take and eat some of the honeycomb out of the hive as we were working. Jean-Robert and Papy did a fine job of hammocking the combs to the top-bars and the colony remained manageable throughout the operation. When we dropped Jean-Robert off in town we ran into the president of the local agricultural association and we gave him a quick run-down of our favorable assessment for apiculture in the area and of our hopes for coordinating related apiculture training and development. 

 

From Port-a-Piment we drove to Les Cayes where we stayed in the guesthouse of Pwoje Espwa (Project Hope)—a Catholic mission-orphanage that houses about 600 homeless children and educates about the same number from town.  FtF should contact Father Mark (Father Marc Boisvert, 1-888-684-3543, www.freethekids.org) and/or Peter and Linda Faford (Peter and Linda Faford, faford2@yahoo.com) to discuss further exploration/collaboration—specifically whether they might be willing to house apiarists and/or sponsor  representatives from their own client group as well as those from the FtF client group during a five-day short-course. 

 

2009 June 29

 

Ronald, Papy, Bado, Wenka and I drove to Camp Perrin where we met with members of CORE and later ORU (as the discussions were principally concerned with administrative affairs rather than technical in nature I remained in the background).  In hindsight however, I realize I should have asked how they each might have contributed to the work of ensuring apiarists get ongoing technical training.  FtF should contact CORE and ORU to discuss further exploration/collaboration—specifically whether they might be willing to house apiarists and/or sponsor  representatives from their own client group as well as those from the FtF client group during a five-day short-course. 

Many box hives into which frames were, or could be, placed have become fixed comb hives because apiarists cannot afford the time or cost of building frames or because they do not properly use or space the frames they do have.

Waline Perrin. and Wenka

 

As usual, the highlight of the day for me was the actual bee work.  After the meeting with CORE and before that with ORU we met with a woman apiarist in Camp Perrin, Waline.  I thought it was an excellent stroke of luck for the two women, Wenka and Waline, to connect because I don't think there are many female apiarists in Haiti.  If they can work together Wenka will be more likely to read and adhere to the technical material which I provided to her and convey that to Waline while Waline will be able to support Wenka through the hands-on practices and assist her in getting over her reluctance to get stung.  If Waline and Wenka are able to team up on a regular basis I think they each have the potential to become much better apiarists than either would individually.  Bado, apparently in his desire to display his enthusiasm for beekeeping, came over after I had begun to open a hive and grabbed the smoker prior to brusquely trying to remove a comb from the hive.  The bees took umbrage with the rough treatment and began stinging Bado and he ran off with the smoker—a cardinal "no-no" in my book.  I recovered the smoker and proceeded without further mishap.  Waline's hives, like most of the others   I saw was an excellent example of what not to do with frame hives.  The number of frames in the hives was inadequate and they were haphazardly arranged.  If the two-body hives were ever fully outfitted with frames about half were missing.  I suspect that what happened was, and perhaps this is true of other apiarists as well, that Waline is treating (I am loathe to say managing) the hive as if it were a log I've that she was robbing.  Most likely she took all the honey comb during the harvest, cut the comb out and then burned the frames as kindling (at least she did not return them to the hives).  The boxes had much fixed comb in it and the most reasonable course of action seemed to be to rearrange the frames into the top box so that they would at least be correctly spaced and to put the combs we had cut from the lid into the bottom box in more-or-less the proper distance from one another.  We also conducted a sugar roll on the bees but were unable to find any mites using this technique.  (FtF may have gotten the wrong idea about how to perform a sugar roll for monitoring for varroa mites as they use about ¼ cup of powdered sugar—they may have gotten this mixed up with the measure of bees that is recommended for such a test.  It is easier to spot mites with a smaller amount of sugar, about a tablespoon being sufficient to coat ¼ cup of bees.  To conduct a sugar roll to monitor mite infestation, place a tablespoon of icing sugar and a ¼ cup of bees [150-300 young bees from a frame in the centre of a colony's brood nest] into a wide mouth 1 litre jar.  [Lightly stroking the backs of the bees with the forward lip of the jar will cause the bees to tumble backwards into the jar.] Roll and cover the bees with the sugar [if their frantic wingbeats doesn't do the job for you]. Generally if there are 15 or more mites per 100 bees, mite control should be employed, but this threshold has not been experimentally verified— Papy said that in Haiti they use a threshold of 5 mites to initiate treatment—usually of a dusting of the rest of the nest with powdered sugar).  We did, nonetheless, find a few mites when we tore open some of the brood comb.  We had enough time to more-or-less get back into order only one of Waline's hives—by rearranging frames so there was a full complement of them in the upper box—and even that may have been for naught because there was some indication that the colony was queenless-- it will be interesting to see whether Waline will follow through on fixing the other two hives. 

Most hives in which we checked drone comb had Varroa mites but not at numbers sufficient in themselves to cause debilitation of the honeybee population (although likely at levels high enough to serve as disease vectors if viruses are or become present)

Waline is a woman apiarist in Camp Perrin. Many value added products worked up from honey and/or beeswax , such as baked goods, candles, cosmetics, soaps and batiked fabrics are traditionaly prepared by women and thus provides the basis for many income-generating activities.

 

We dropped Wenka off back at the Espwa guesthouse and then drove on to Aquin where we checked on the transferred KTBH (everything looked fine-- but, as I had predicted the comb which had not been tied up with a cloth hammock had fallen into the bottom of the hive.  We reattached it using a hammock this time. 

 

Observation of the types of bees found

 

I did not spend a lot of effort in determining the extent of African genotype.  It is my understanding that African bees are moving into Haiti from the Dominican Republic.  I did bring some instructional materials for collection and identification techniques to determine genotype if FtF staff see a need to continue such work[1].  However, I question the value of spending resources on such an activity; to what end will collecting such information serve the FtF client group?  The genetic composition of bees in Haiti may be of scientific interest to some participants in the FtF program but it is of very little practical value to rural apiarists (I will use the term apiarists throughout this document, rather than beekeepers, to denote the fact that most of the clients with whom I worked are bee-havers rather than beekeepers, meaning that they simply provide a hive for the bees in which to nest and that they do not manage the hive other than to get it established and to conduct the harvest, see chapter one of Small Scale Beekeeping)-- other than to acknowledge that the ingress of African bees will most likely increase the production of honey as it has in other tropical countries into which it has been introduced[2].  What is of much greater value is teaching apiarists how to deal with extremely defensive bees irrespective of their genetic classification.  I emphasized with all the apiarists with whom I worked the value of smoking one's skin and protective equipment prior to working one's bees.  On a couple of occasions one or two apiarists declined to smoke themselves-- and they were driven out of the apiary by bees responding to the relatively heavy manipulations (such as hive transfers) which we were performing while the rest of us received few or no stings. 

 

Another very effective method that I shared with clients in each apiary is to move a hive away from its original location into a shady location, leaving an empty hive in its place, during significant management activities.  Forager bees, which are also those most engaged in nest defense, will return to the original site, rather than the original hive.  This leaves fewer defensive bees for the apiarist to deal with during hive management activities.

 

Determination and list of the limiting factors faced by apiarists

 

Apiarists in Haiti face three major hurdles: a lack of technical skills, a lack of economic resources and a lack of general infrastructure.  A good understanding of basic bee biology can compensate for most other insufficiencies in inputs to apicultural development. Unfortunately, this level of knowledge is quite rare in Haiti.  However, this is also the area that can be addressed most efficiently with limited resources.  It is my hope that the principle result of this trip will be to cultivate the contacts made in order to organize and finance at least one five-day live-in hands-on training event.  Rural apiarists in Haiti have very little disposable income to invest in beekeeping equipment.  In addition, quality wood for the construction of hives is at a premium.  Almost all the apiarists I encountered in Haiti harvested their honey by cutting the combs from the frames and squeezing the honey out.  This pretty much eliminates any advantage that the movable frame hive has over movable comb hives such as the KTBH.  Whether they construct the hives themselves or acquire them through loan programs movable comb hives will be more profitable than movable frame hives until such time that apiarists have access to extractors and the inclination, time and skills to use them properly. 

 

The general lack of infrastructure affects all aspects of life in Haiti including beekeeping.  The dilapidated state of roads prevents the rapid transport of goods, particularly perishable goods, to markets.  Conversely, accessibility of many specialty imported goods, including beekeeping equipment, is very limited for the same reason.  Commonplace techniques for improving production such as seasonally replacing queens or installing packaged bees with stock delivered through the postal system are virtually impossible in Haiti.  During my stay in Haiti our routine activities were interrupted, delayed or curtailed on at least three occasions by the breakdown of the cars we were using.  This brought to mind the analogy that the (Langstroth) movable frame hive is much like an expensive, high performance piece of machinery while the (Kenya) movable comb hive is much like a hand tool.  Imagine trying to run an excavating company under conditions like those in rural Haiti.  You could invest in an imported back-hoe to dig trenches or you could hire Haitians with hand shovels to do the job.  For the back-hoe to work profitably you'd probably only be able to take contracts in areas with good roads in order to be able to get the machine from place to place, you'd have to depend on expensive imported parts if the machine broke down, you'd have a very limited pool of trained operators from which to draw and you'd need to have access to plenty of gasoline and other inputs necessary to keep the machine operational.  If you don't have a trained operator, or you need a crucial mechanical component, or you have no gasoline, or you can't get the rig where it needs to be then you dig no trenches.  On the other hand if you hire local workers with hand tools (in Haiti it is even common to require that journeyman come to the worksite with their own equipment) then you don't have to rely on foreign imports, expensive inputs or transportation issues.  When the back-hoe is working you will, perhaps, be able to dig trenches faster than a human work crew.  But my guess is that, in the long run, the contractor using hand labor is going to dig a far greater length of trenching and operate more profitably than the back-hoe operation.  The same holds true for beekeeping, high input apiculture requiring hives and frames built of high quality lumber, an extractor to remove honey from the frames, and apiarists with the skills to know how to return the frames to the hives with the proper spacing is probably going to produce less honey than a system in which more apiarists with a less developed skill set make use of a hive the operation of which they can more easily master.  n my opinion, the vast majority of FtF clients would be much better served by a program of education and training that focuses on techniques and technology that Haitians can sustain and build upon with minimal outside inputs rather than attempting to reproduce apicultural production systems that are much more appropriate in a capital-rich context that is not typical of the Haitian rural farmer.  Such a program should begin with a series of intensive short courses for both rural extensionist and community apiarist leaders and should focus on the construction and management of the Kenya Top Bar Hive.  A more complete rationale for the advantages offered by the Kenya Top Bar Hive under conditions typical of those for the Haitian client group is available in chapter six of Small Scale Beekeeping[3].

 

In the days of feudal India, the white elephant was treated with near god-like reverence.  One encharged with the care of such a creature was obliged to provide for its care and feeding even at the expense of his own well-being.  The raj would sometimes make a gift of such an animal to an up-and-coming rival to force him to divert resources which might otherwise go to bolstering his economic or military position and hence threaten the raj.  High tech beekeeping equipment can, similarly, sometimes be detrimental to the goals of maximizing the income of small scale apiarists.  It is imperative to remember that unless apiarists properly use a honey extractor to remove honey and then replace frames back in the hive in their proper spacing, movable frame hives provide no advantage to the apiarist compared to movable comb hives.  North American beekeepers unfamiliar with the realities of life in the developing world can sometimes overlook this important point and make recommendations for practices with which they are familiar but which don't translate well into the context of developing world.  For instance, a recommendation that "improved"" queens should be provided to apiarists would be of little practicality in areas where they cannot be disturbed to the door of the apiarist by a courier company as is the case in most of North America.  Similarly, the use of movable frame hives may be contraindicated with novice apiarists who do not have access to a truck for hauling supers of frames to and from their extractor (assuming they have one), who do not have access to fine wood for making quality frames or who do not understand the concept of the bee space and thus do not use the movable frame hive correctly.

 

 

Evaluation of the current beekeeping strategy of Makouti Agro Enterprise.

 

Makouti Agro Enterprise has done an admirable job of getting hives into the field and getting bees into the hives.  However, they have not been very successful at getting rural farmers to properly use the movable frame hives they have been promoting. As Benito Jasmin, Country Coordinator for the Farmer-to-Farmer program quips: "We have changed the beehives but not the beekeepers."

 

I suspected that Makouti enlisted carpenters to act as intermediary community leaders in promoting the movable comb hives-- since these hives require a relatively high degree of woodworking expertise to build. And I imagine that the carpenters received some kind of compensation dependent upon the number of hives that went out into the field. This makes sense if the goal of the program is to increase the income of carpenters in the area but it is not necessarily in the best interest of promoting beekeeping. Subsequent inquiries proved that this was, in fact, the case and, perhaps, explains Bado's reluctance to invite beekeepers to a session on how they could build their own hives-and perhaps why he pretty much monopolized the construction of hive in Port-au-Piment, not encouraging others present to participate. To continue with the previous analogy making carpenters beekeeping trainers is- like putting the back-hoe salesmen in charge of a trench digging strategy; obviously they are going to recommend back-hoes as the tool-of-choice. It is likely that a program that emphasizes do-it-yourself techniques (perhaps going so far as to provide a saw and hammer to clients rather than completed hives) would result in a greater number of hives being utilized correctly than the current method of hive distribution.

 

 

5. FOLLOW-UP

 

I believe that client apiarists are sorely in need of some intensive, substantive technical training in order to develop a firm understanding of the biological and technological basis for beekeeping.  I believe I would be able and willing to provide such training in Haiti to conduct at least one five-day intensive short-course covering all the basic components of beekeeping if FtF personnel in Haiti can arrange to cover room and board for thirty or so participants for a five-day beekeeping short-course.  I believe that this would form a much better basis for skills transfer than disjointed seminars or apiary visits conducted by different volunteers with no clear, cohesive curriculum. Ideally this would involve getting various NGO's to cooperate (something they seem not to be very good at) to pull together at least one such course in the north of Haiti and another in the south.  (I believe that Cap Haitien and Les Cayes would each be likely sites for a short-course.)  I propose to bring in at least one representative from each community in which Farmer-to-Farmer has beekeeper contacts, give them five days of hands-on training and then send them back to pass the skills amongst their peers.  This would mean that we would have to find a spot where we could establish at least a small apiary during the course-- and my preference would be that we leave the bees at the training location to serve as a model apiary and training nexus thereafter.  Sample lesson plans for such a short course are available at: http://www3.telus.net/conrad/htmghana/beekeeping-appendix_c_short-course.htm

 

Ideally prior to my return to Haiti FtF staff should:

• determine when apiarists would be most likely to be able to attend a short-course that would coincide with a period that bees are in a build-up or honey-flow period
• coordinate with other NGO's (see contact info above) and/or obtain funding from U.S.A.I.D. or similar agencies to feed and house community leaders and beekeeping trainers
• establish an apiary at each training centre with approximately ten hives (something on the order of 2 fixed comb hives, 5 movable comb Kenya top bar hives, 5 movable frame Langstroth hives [one of each being empty to practice transfers from fixed comb hives])
• obtain ancillary paraphernalia for training sessions (either ensuring that participants bring their own protective equipment or making it available to them for the duration of the short-course along with other training materials [markers, flipcharts, etc. [see materials list for individual sessions of the sample short-course]).

 

I would hope that this can be arranged to coincide with my availability sometime after January of 2010 (when I will have sufficient holiday allotment to accommodate a month or so return to Haiti).  If it proves more practical for such training to be delivered by other volunteers or host-country staff I would, nonetheless, be happy to assist in a volunteer capacity to provide guidance for the organization and implementation of such training.

 

 

6. COMMENTS

 

Haiti has been the focus of not-always-benevolent business and political attention from the global powers (Spain, France, England and the United States) for the past five centuries, ever since Columbus made his first landfall in the New World on Hispaniola Island.  I believe that the fact that the African peoples who were brought to Haiti were often from disparate and sometimes rival ethnic groups presented challenges to the development of a strong sense of community that continue to the present day.  This has been exacerbated in recent times by political regimes that fomented divisive "witch hunting" practices in which neighbors were encouraged to spy and inform on each other.  Add to this the perception (irrespective of the reality) of widespread conspiracies involving corruption, CIA intrigues and kidnapping schemes and it is easy to understand the pervasive mood of mistrust and suspicion that I felt lurked under the amiable surface of most social interaction in Haiti (at least as concerns foreigners such as myself—but I believe this dynamic extended to Haitian to Haitian interaction as well.  Or perhaps, the many tales of assassinations, voodoo curses, and factional machinations that I heard unduly colored my sensibilities.  Nonetheless, it is clearly evident that there are many challenges to development in Haiti that go beyond "simple" technological transfer.

 

However, FtF staff went out of their way to ensure a safe, comfortable and welcoming environment during my stay—to the point that I actually felt unduly spoiled when comparing my own situation to that of the staff and clients.  In fact, given the spending limit on my credit card I had to be somewhat careful of the amounts I spent on project costs because the charges for my food and lodging in the luxurious accommodations arranged for me almost exceeded my financial carrying capacity (i.e. I very nearly "maxed out" my credit card and had to arrange to transfer funds to pay down the balance in order to continue to finance project activities).  Overall, I found my experience gratifying but hope that I can return to Haiti to more fully contribute to its apicultural development.