Beekeeping for Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood Security (PDF)

For decades beekeeping has been used as a tool for rural development, and many examples of the successful establishment of beekeeping cooperatives, associations and companies in poverty regions can be cited. However, until now, no comprehensive book is available that addresses all aspects of how to develop beekeeping for rural development. Beekeeping for Poverty Alleviation and Livelihood Security aims to connect the technological aspects of beekeeping (Volume I) with bee based livelihood and food security in the developing world (Volume II). Beekeeping cannot be practiced successfully without basic knowledge about the history of beekeeping , taxonomical information about honey bees and their distribution, the biology of the bee species involved, because hive management should be according the life cycle and needs of the bees during the different seasons. The reader will therefore find chapters on bee biology of different bee species, including stingless honeybees, beekeepingpractices for Apis mellifera, Africanized bees and Asian bees, bee genetics and selection, bee pathology and parasitology, and prevention of bee diseases. Since beekeeping is done in different regions of the world with different bees and a variety of materials, a chapter is dedicated to beehives in different parts of the world. Several economical aspects of beekeeping are discussed in chapters about the role of pollinators in sustainable farming and livelihood security, bee products and their quality control, apitherapy and the use of bee products in local health care, innovative techniques in beekeeping and the impact of climate change on beekeeping. This book is in line with what decision makers and actors in beekeeping development should apply. Even more, the book is dealing with a theme often neglected, more precisely all subjects related to the quality and commercialization of hive products, including the broad and more than promising field of apitherapy. In view of increased problems of annual bee mortality in the USA and Europe, the view is turning towards a closer follow-up of the life of honey bees and not to the necessity of profitability out-and-out. Part of the beekeepers in developed countries, mainly in the west, who could be beginners, city-dwellers or professionals, are turning their way of beekeeping management towards a more extensive beekeeping, for example by adopting the Kenyan beehive, previously only reserved for the more helpless.
With the publication of this book, we hope to hand out a practical guide that will assist all those who are involved in beekeeping for development. We hope it will stimulate beekeeping as an integrated activity with farming and nature conservation and will serve in many households for poverty alleviation and livelihood security. A book not to be missed in any self-respecting library.