Bee Ecology

About Pollination

Why is Pollination Important?
Good pollination brings the following benefits to your crops:

• Improves selectivity in fertilization (the flower is fertilized with the best pollen available);
• Increases viability of embryos and seeds (more blossoms mature into fruits).
• Increases nutritive value and aroma of fruits.
• Increases vegetative mass and stimulates faster growth of plants.
• Enhances resistance to diseases and other adverse environmental conditions.
• Increases nectar production in the nectaries of plants.
• Increases fruit set and reduces fruit drop.
• Early and uniform crop set.
• Increases oil content in oil seed crops.

Poor Pollination results in:

• Aborted blossoms;
• Badly shaped or undersized fruit
• Underdeveloped and fruits that are not as sweet
• Slow growing crops and less seeds
• Small yield

Traditional Bee Hunting

Hunting for wild honey is still common, a practice that destroys the hives of wild bees and yields honey of uncertain quality. By contrast, a beekeeper is assured of a regular harvest of known quality.

In some areas wild honeybee populations have been driven near extinction by this practice. There is also the added risk of forest fires, since the hunters use smoke from burning wood to drive away the bees.

By encouraging apiculture, we hope to provide a viable, sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative to this practice.

About Varoa Mites

What are Varoa mites? Varoa or Varroa mites are a tropical parasite that infest bee hives, where like tiny vampires they suck the blood of bee larvae and adults. They are native to Southeast Asia, and have spread abroad through the unfortunate transportation of infected colonies.

The mites kill young developing bees before these can mature, and weaken adult bees making them vulnerable to infections and diseases. Varoa mite infestation shortens adult bee life by an average of 50%. Entire colonies can be wiped out if the infestation is not controlled in time.

These mites are a major problem to beekeepers both locally and abroad, specially where they can attack European honeybee populations. European bees have no adaptations to this pest, which is alien to them, and so suffer more from infestations. Asian bee species evolved with the Varoa mite and so have means of dealing with them; they generally suffer less damage from varoa infestations.

In tropical regions like the Philippines where the varoa mite can be found, it should be more profitable in the long run for beekeepers to raise Asian bees like Apis cerana since by doing so they can save on the use of antibiotics and pesticides.