Beekeeping industry off from a bad start
Photo / Story by: Rene Icasiano-Quinquito
Attn: Eds Mandatory Credits Apply

     Bulacan, Bulacan, 14September2004: With renewed interest on a program that has been shunned by former President Ferdinand Marcos, failed by local government units and NGO groups, gained minor popularity in the 1950’s as a hobby, in the Philippines beekeeping or apiculture is making a comeback.
     Further difficulties were compounded by a republic act (RA 9151) handing over the whole industry to an institution rumored to have received a multimillion-peso budget spent on travel expenses and expensive four-wheel drives.
     And threatened with government's desperate search for income generation to resolve its financial crisis by fast-tracking small and medium scale business through economic templates or "road maps" isn't doing the industry the support it requires.
     Still, keeping bees is a fascinating and desirable pursuit for it has survived since the early recordings of the Vedas in India, heralded in the Koran of Mohammed and the Holy Bible of Christianity.
     Equally it attracted the attention of Greek mythology, of Pliny and Aristotle and on down to the more modern investigations of Huber and Fabre.
     Many bee enthusiasts start with only a few beehives in their backyard as a hobby.
     I started out on beekeeping or "apiculture" some 5 years ago with a research work that saw a potential solution to the country's agricultural production problem.

EUROPEAN HONEYBEE
     The course of my research furthered my conviction after realizing that most self-sufficient countries are using bees specifically Apis Mellifera” or the European Honeybee as the foundation for the remarkable performance of their agricultural programs.
      Beekeeping companies engaged farmers owning vast agricultural areas or orchards for "pollination services" using honeybees to achieve the process of sexual reproduction in plants.
      Pollinating crops or contract pollination, is big business in the United States of America, Australia, Canada and Europe.
     But early in the Philippines, the dispersal of beekeeping in the countryside failed to sustain the interest in the majority of the recipients for they had expected quick financial returns out of their investments in bees and equipment, miscalculating its value in agriculture.
     Beekeeping using the European Honeybee is an import-dependent business – the insect is imported.
     Research and dissemination program in the keeping of local indigenous bees or “Apis Cerana” is relatively a new endeavor such that related problems have not yet been identified.
     In-spite of all these obstacles and set backs, the local beekeeping industry is struggling forward with the creation and convergence of associations and groups striving towards identifying, understanding and resolving problems for it to mature.
     Products derived from the honeybee have enormous potentials especially with government and institutional support, headed by the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, the University of the Philippines in Los Banos, Laguna and the National Apiculture Research and Development Institute or NARTDI.
     But the main driving factor is the vigilance of the people in developing the industry.

About the author:

Mr. Rene Marcos Icasiano-Quinquito is an Apiculturist of Sara’s Honeybee and an 18-year veteran in information systems and telecommunication as a Technical Manager of the Agence France-Presse, was also the elected President of the BEENET Foundation Philippines Inc. in 2004 for both its National and Luzon Chapters.

He founded the Sariling Talino At Gawa Movement that advocates increased agricultural production through sustainable agricultural practices.

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Rene Quinquito
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Founder - STAG Movement
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