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Beekeeping in Pakistan - A bright future in a troubled land

Article  in  American Bee Journal · August 2008

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Final ABJ - August 08.qxp 8/1/2008
P
akistan, lies between Afghanistan to
the west, India to the east, China to
the north, Iran and the Arabian Sea
to the south. It has a long and rich history
unfortunately obscured by recent world-
wide events. It is home to 16 million people,
the majority if which live in the major low-
land cities. Geographically Pakistan has a
diverse range of habitats from 8000m snow-
capped Himalayan peaks, alpine and sub-
alpine meadows, through a wide range of
forest types down to the rich fertile plains of
the Indus and arid deserts regions found in
the south of the country. It even has 800km
of coastline along which the old capital and
key port of Karachi is to be found.
Therefore, it is not surprising to find
Pakistan has a wealth of flora and fauna,
which is starting to be systematically record-
ed with the setting up of series of new pro-
grams. In 2007 the WWF helped with the
publication of the first ‘Birds of Pakistan’
field guide and a National Insect Museum
has been established and is starting to cata-
log their insects from old and new collec-
tions. With such a range of climatic condi-
tions and habitat types, it is not surprising
that the country has a rich bee fauna that
includes at least three species of native Apis
honey bees. These are the dwarf honey bee
A. florea, the hill honey bee A. cerana, and
the rock honey bee A. dorsata. Also, A.
andreniformes and A. laboriosa are almost
certainly present and just awaiting discov-
ery.
Pakistan lies at the western end of the
a Things greatly improved during the
Honeybee Research Institute, National
Agricultural Research Centre, Islamabad,
Pakistan 45000.
b Laboratory of Apiculture & Social Insects,
Department of Animal & Plant Sciences,
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
726
1:27 PM Page 726
Asian honey bees’ range as dispersal fur-
ther west is prohibited by the arid regions
of Afghanistan. Interestingly, A. florea
now occurs in Oman, but this is most like-
ly due to it being introduced by humans
rather than by natural spread. This natural
arid barrier has prevented A. mellifera,
which dispersed out of Africa, and the
Asian honey bees from ever mixing.
Therefore, over evolutionary time different
pests and pathogens associated with each
Asian honey bee species and A. mellifera
have arisen separately. We are still learning
about the various bee-pathogen relation-
ships that exist, but what is clear is that
almost all of our current beekeeping prob-
lems are caused by diseases occurring nat-
urally in Asian honey bees, which then
jumped the species barrier when man start-
ed moving A. mellifera colonies into Asia.
Varroa and Nosema are just two examples.
The first introduction of A. mellifera into
Pakistan (then part of India) was attempted
during 1908, but these colonies soon died.
During the next 60 years a further 15
attempts to introduce A. mellifera from var-
ious places in Europe and Russia into
Pakistan occurred. However, all failed with
the colonies dying of unknown causes with-
in a couple of seasons. Then, finally during
1977-79, colonies (packaged bees) from
Australia were successfully established at
the National Agriculture Research Centre
(NARC) in Islamabad. Although they suf-
fered many colony losses during the next
ten years, these losses were replaced by
splitting and purchasing addition colonies.
Pakistan-German honey bee promotion pro-
gram (1988-1992) as training in honey bee
colony management and modern mite con-
trol measures were introduced. In hindsight
it was most probably mite problems that
caused the failure of previous introductions.
More recently the promotion of sustainable
beekeeping and training in mite manage-
ment is being carried out under a Pakistan-
USDA funded project. During the past 20
years the numbers of A. mellifera colonies
have grown from the ten’s of colonies by
queen rearing and colony multiplication to
hundreds of colonies that have been distrib-
uted to beekeepers, government and
research institutes. These colonies are now
spread across a wide region of central
Pakistan which is the most suitable for bee-
keeping. In addition to these colonies dur-
ing 1980-81 the Afghan war forced a large
number of refugees into the western border
regions of Pakistan and they brought with
them hundreds of A. mellifera colonies. In
order to provide employment for the
refugees, additional package bees were
imported under various aid programs, so by
1985 there was over 3000 A. mellifera
colonies maintained in Langstroth hives.
Prior to the large influx of A. mellifera
colonies, Pakistani beekeepers in the moun-
tainous regions were maintaining A. cerana
colonies as their main source of honey pro-
duction, in addition to traditional honey-
hunters that were harvesting the wild A.
dorsata colonies from bee trees and collect-
ing A. florea honey. However, during 1980-
1983 almost all of the A. cerana colonies
kept in modern and traditional hives were
killed by an epidemic of what is believed to
be tracheal mite, but other diseases cannot
be ruled out. It is likely that the underlying
cause was the transfer of diseases from A.
mellifera to A. cerana since colonies of both
species were kept in close proximity. A sim-
ilar situation also occurred in India when
the native A. cerana population was devas-
tated by what is thought to be an epidemic
of sacbrood contracted from imported A.
American Bee Journal
Final ABJ - August 08.qxp 8/1/2008 1:27 PM Page 727

(l) A typical Afghan A. mellifera beekeeping operation. (r) Modern A. mellifera beekeeping in
Pakistan, only a veil is used. The hives are 14 years old and are coated in paraffin wax to
prevent termite damage.
mellifera colonies.
Currently there are an estimated 2,000
beekeepers in Pakistan managing between
200,000 and 300,000 A. mellifera colonies
producing around 7,500 tonnes of honey
annually. Beekeepers in Pakistan are domi-
nated (70%) by the Afghan refugees with
the remainder being Pakistani’s operating
in the central regions and beekeeping in the
remote tribal areas, which is growing rapid-
ly. Unlike European countries and
America, there are almost no hobbyist bee-
keepers in Pakistan. A survey of beekeepers
and honey hunters in the 1990s revealed
that an estimated 60 tons of A. cerana
honey, 70 tons of A. dorsata honey and 10
tons of A. florea honey were harvested per
annum. The vast majority of honey is for
personal consummation or sold locally,
although a fledgling export market to Saudi
Arabia and the Middle East now exists.
However, a major problem facing beekeep-
ers is that the majority of the Pakistani’s
view the natural granulation of honey as a
sign of poor quality or impure honey.
Therefore, fast granulating honeys fetch a
low price or just don’t sell, while non-gran-
ulating honeys are highly valued. For
example, the honey from the zizuphus
plant, also know as the jujube or Chinese
date tree, is a dark non-granulating honey
with a strong flavor and aroma. Known as
‘Ber honey’, this is the most highly sought
after honey both locally and by the Arab
export markets. In addition to the zizuphus
crop in the autumn, beekeepers take anoth-
er 2-3 honey crops yearly. This can be from
the flowers of oil-seed rape and citrus trees
in the spring, followed by acacia and clover
crops in the summer. This means that most
A. mellifera beekeeping is largely migrato-
ry, moving their bees from crop to crop.
This also means that the beekeepers can
exploit the wide range of climate condi-
tions and never need to sugar-feed their
bees as forage is present year-round.
However, they complain of often having to
pay bribes to police officers when moving
colonies along public highways!
However, A. mellifera beekeepers in
Pakistan have not escaped the problems
faced by beekeepers world-wide and in fact
have additional difficulties. It was also in
the first season after A. mellifera bees
where introduced from abroad that the
largest honey crops were recorded with
annual honey yields averaging 40-50kg per
colony. Then, in 1981 beekeepers started to
report problems associated with the ecto-
parasitic honey bee mite Tropilaelaps
clareae. This mite has a similar life-history
to the infamous Varroa mite in that it repro-
duces within the honey bees’ sealed brood
cells. It is about half the size of Varroa, has
a long and thin body shape and its natural
host is A. dorsata. However, little is known
about its biology and it appears to be
unable to survive without the presence of
brood, since it is poorly adapted to a
phoretic lifestyle. It is believed to have a
second unknown non-honeybee host on
which it survives during the period when A.
dorsata is migrating. However, it has been
able to successfully exploit A. mellifera as
a new host where it is believed to have

(l) Queen rearing training course at the Honey Bee Institute in Rawalpindi.
(r) An A. dorsata colony that has moved into the covered roof of a house.

August 2008 727

Final ABJ - August 08.qxp 8/1/2008 1:27 PM Page 728

(l) Roadside apiary (r) Painting of A. dorsata in the mountains along with verses from the Koran.
tainous regions where it is better adapted
caused up to 50% of colony losses in India, hands-on training workshops in which than A. mellifera and does not suffer from
and decimated colonies in Afghanistan, master trainers are provided with up-to- mite problems.
causing an estimated 95% of colony losses date information and the latest research Pakistan is a place where beekeeping
in just three years. Therefore, it is a serious findings have been run. These people then has real potential to expand to exploit the
pest and beekeepers need to control mite return to their communities to pass on their wide range of climatic conditions and dif-
numbers by using acaricides or creating knowledge to other beekeepers. Queen ferent flowing seasons the country has to
broodless periods. rearing programs have been established at offer. Since this expansion appears to have
To add to their problems Varroa destruc- two institutions where hands-on training is the government’s backing, there is a real
tor was reported in 2002 and typically was also provided, but since the 1990s importa- chance of it succeeding, despite all the
already widely spread throughout their A. tion of A. mellifera colonies from abroad problems the country currently faces.
mellifera colonies. The presence of these two has ceased. There is a foundation for a wax
ecto-parasitic mites is estimated to have exchange system, also operated at NARC,
reduced honey production by up to 50% as in an attempt to encourage beekeepers to
beekeepers learn how to manage them. replace their combs more frequently. Also,
Currently, beekeepers use fluvalinate strips for the first time, apiculture is being
imported from China and it is unclear if offered as a module in an MSc course,
resistance has yet appeared. Formic acid is which at Punjab University is proving pop-
also used and trials using oxalic acid at ular with the students. A. cerana beekeep-
National Apicultural Reseach Center ing is again being encouraged in the moun-
(NARC) have confirmed that under local
conditions it is effective and this will be
phased in over the coming years. In addition
to the mite problems, the other problems
faced by beekeepers are those familiar to
most beekeepers such as American
Foulbrood (AFB), chalkbrood and pesticides
used by farmers that has increased almost
ten-fold during the last ten years. AFB is par-
ticularly widespread among the Afghan’s
colonies, which is treated with antibiotics,
but efforts to increase hive hygiene by burn-
ing, shook swarms and comb replacement
are being taught in an effort to reduce the
beekeepers’ reliance on antibiotics.
Despite these difficulties, the future of
beekeeping in Pakistan looks bright. In
addition to the current funding for investi-
gations into Integrated Pest Management
of the mite problem, there are two newly
funded projects at NARC, which is the
center of honey bee research in Pakistan.
One is to establish a honey-testing and
quality laboratory and the other is to pro-
mote the value of honey bees as pollinators
and other honey bee products. These will
help Pakistan beekeepers develop their
export market by addressing issues sur-
rounding potential antibiotic and pesticide
residues.
In the past couple of years a series of

728 American Bee Journal

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