Bees/or Development Journal 77

PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING
Eco-friendly harvesting of rock bees
G N Paliwal, Sun/fa Paliwal and D B Tembhare, Centre for Bee Development, Wardha, India
Distribution
The rock bee, Apis dorsata is an astonishing bee species. It amazes
humans due to its unique nesting pattern, migration, ferociousness and
huge deposits of honey. It is an indigenous species of south-east Asian
countries. In India, noticeable rock bee wealth occurs in many states
including Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh Jharkhand,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttaranchal and West Bengal.
Enforced relocation
The ample nectar and pollen of wild plants during March to June lure
thousands of colonies to nest on inaccessible trees and steep cliffs near
thfilakes, streams and rivers in forest and hilly areas. The same
lomenon is observed in the plains in the cropping season of
October to December. During these periods, rock bees take care of their
brood and store honey from the abundance of blooming vegetation in
their areas. Due to scant rains and unwarranted human interventions in
the last decade, our native forests and plains no longer offer safe homes
for rock bees. For better shelter the victimised colonies relocate from
their original grounds to new places. Here they may occupy religiously- Figure 2. Equipment for eco-friendly handling of rock bees
protected trees like Ficus religiosaand Ficus bengalensis or man-made
structures including water-tanks, bridges, buildings or factories in New system
villages and other populated localities. A simple kit consisting of three sets of bee suits (Figure 1), (denim
jeans), gloves, knives, buckets, re-chargeable torch, a 36 m tape-rope,
Honey and wax from rock bees a 25 m rope ladder, string, sieve, tub and containers (Figure 2) has
For many years tribal people have been harvesting rock bees using been designed for handling rock bees. One set is provided to each
destructive methods. Squeezed honey is sold in local markets. The group of 4-5 honey artisans. Darkness makes rock bees less active and
income gives each harvester a reduces the nuisance of stinging. Therefore, our teams reach rock bee
seasonal livelihood of sites during the evening with the necessary kit. First, a thick rope is
US$30-40 per year. This honey secured on the target tree bearing the rock bees. The nesting positions
is known as 'forest honey1 and of all the accessible colonies are pinpointed carefully using the torch.
is a major contributor to the The artisans wear the bee suits and climb up the tree with the help of a
Indian honey market rope. In the case of cliffs, water tanks and buildings, a portable rope
(Atwal, 2000). ladder is used. The socks, gloves and helmet are put on and the honey
To harness the natural potential hunter moves nearer the nest. A bucket containing the sharp knife is
of rock bee wealth in a pulled up on the rope and kept close at hand.
scientific manner, we felt a In rock bee nests, most of the honey is accumulated in a honey area,
need to harmonise the followed by the crescent-shaped pollen area and a widely-extended
production system by analysing lower brood area. On closer study of both active and deserted rock bee
conventional and earlier nests we identified a unique feature. This is that the ripened honey 'in
scientific efforts (Mahindre, bulk' (70-80% of the honey stock of each nest) lies in the sealed,
1983;Ghatge, 1988). We elevated cells (5-11 cm in depth), mostly at the corner sections, and in
conducted the necessary a few cases in the middle of the comb, extending for 20-28 cm.
research and field trials in Unsealed flat cells, 2.5-5 cm in depth, containing unripe honey occur
central India between 1994 and in the remaining part of the honey area length of 38-50 cm.
1996. We named the system Here lies the real secret of our new concept. After climbing to the target
Sewagram Nisarg Technique of place, the operation on the rock bee nest begins with a gentle clearance
Rock bee Management or of the bees' curtain from the elevated area of honeycomb.
SNTRM. It has proved simple,
appropriate, easy to adopt, Further interest
feasible, low-cost and eco- Honey hunters and beekeepers of Tamil Nadu (Keystone Foundation)
friendly. Adopting it, the
14.65 (22) Code K305
artisans gather plenty of good
quality honey and gain a Honey hunters of the Blue Mountains (Keystone Foundation).
sustainable livelihood Video 28.90 (43.40) Code VID20 or CD 22.80 34.20
Figure 1. Bee suits are part of the simple
kit that is provided for the honey artisans (Paliwal, 2003). (Code VID20A. How to order? See page 15
Bees/or Development Journal 77 PRACTICAL BEEKEEPING
Figure 3. Cutting the elevated honeycomb with a sharp knife: no water or
smoke is necessary to evacuate the bees
The evacuated bees fly around and settle temporarily on the nearby
leaves.
The evacuated portion is then smoothly cut (Figure 3), detached,
collected in a bucket and lowered. The whole process of bee evacuation
and 'honeycomb1 separation requires only two minutes. In the same
manner, other accessible colonies are similarly 'operated' in the next
one or two hours and window-like holes are formed due to the removal
of the elevated area of honeycomb (Figures 4 and 5).
Figure 4
These nests do not fall, as both the ends of their attachment remain
intact with the substratum and all the evacuated bees settle back on
theirnests by the next morning. 'Operated1 portions are rebuilt and
refilled with honey in the next 25-30 days which enables subsequent
harvests. In the second harvest 6-7 kg of honey is obtained per nest
which is more than the first harvest of 2-3 kg. In each blooming season,
two or three harvests may be arranged. Rock bee colonies nesting on
terrestrial surfaces are harvested by the same procedure.
The teams return with the isolated 'honeycombs' packed in containers
(Figure 6). Harvested honeycombs are chopped into pieces along the
mid-rib and are kept on a big sieve, allowing the honey to trickle to a
lower pot. The de-honeyed combs on the sieve are melted, filtered and
condensed in water to separate crude beeswax. The harvested honey
and wax are marketed to local NGOs in order to protect the interests of
the producers.
By adopting our SNTRM technique, rock bee nests are not destroyed in
the middle of their development period. The parent colonies multiply
safely to add new daughter colonies, which ultimately helps to enrich
the forest eco-system.
Figure 5. A rock bee nest after removal of the elevated area of honeycomb
Dissemination of knowledge
Efforts are being made to transfer this knowledge amongst the
conventional groups of honey hunters in central India. The necessarv
training camps are arranged through local NGOs in each potential
pocket. The low-cost facilities of proper storage of honey, processing;
bottling, packaging and quality control are provided. To date, about 450
trained honey artisans are practising our method. They are collectively
harvesting more than 55 tonnes of honey and wax and earning about
US$58,000 (US$127 per artisan) per annum; 3-4 times more than they
would obtain by using conventional methods.
Figure 6. Isolated elevated areas of honeycombs
References
ATWAL, A S (2000) Essentials ot beekeeping and pollination. Kalyani Publishers,
Ludhiyana, India.
GHATGE. A I (1988) Technology for scientific harvesting of the biggest honey source of
India. Science for Villages (Feb-Mar) pp 5-7.
MAHINDRE. D B (1983) Handling rock bee colonies. Indian Bee Journal 45: 72-73.
PALIWAL, G N (2003) Socio-economic development of tribal bee-hunters through safe
handling of rock bees in Wardha District of Central India. In: International Workshop on
Conservation and Management of Bees for Sustainable Development, Bangalore:
pp 99-100.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Oxfam UK (India Trust), CAPART (New Delhi), MPCoST (MP), DRDA
(Wardha, MS), KVIC-UNDP for financial support: Mr Mukund Uikey, a master trainer;
Professor Sanjeev Gandhewar for going through the manuscript and Mr Sanjay Mashankar
(Anjali Arts) for the illustrations.