MSWAKINI PRIMARY SCHOOL APIARY - HONEY HARVESTING-SHORT REPORT, June 2022

Hive inspection was done with help from Nelson and Amina from TAWIRI on Friday,

June 17, 2022, for about six hours. We got nearly three buckets of crushed comb

honey, which gave us 43kg of liquid honey after extraction. We have not had time to

process beeswax from the remaining combs.

1. Field Observations:

i The exercise was done late. We would have better results within May and first

few days of June.

ii We needed inspection in March/April. As part of management of the honeybee

colonies we would do some necessary adjustments in the hives, which would

have given us even better results.

iii The frame hives (Langstroth type) are more suitable for the area than the Top

Bar Hives.

iv Generally, with appropriate hives and required management, the area has good

production potential.

2. Suggestions

To improve the project, we suggest that we should:

i) Inspect the hives at least four times in a year, as follows:

• In July we inspect the hives to observe development of bees after

  harvesting, and clean the hives which the bees have absconded due to

  harvesting disturbances.

• After short rains / during flowering of herbs and some shrubs to monitor

  development and remove honey if there is any

• March/April to monitor development and do necessary adjustments and

  prepare colonies for storage of honey (for May/June harvest)

  May/June inspection for main harvesting

ii) Increase the number of Langstroth bee hives:

Langstroth hives have shown to be more appropriate for production in Mswakini

area. We suggest, if possible, to install 10 more of such hives in the area.

However, this has to be done after discussion with school and village

administrations.

iii) Identify a few individuals committed in beekeeping who will be given protective

gears and a more intensive practical training that will enable them to do

necessary inspections and required adjustment at any time. This can be followed

by training to few committed people (including some women and students) on

handling of the products, including honey extraction, preparation of beeswax and

its value addition to get commodities like skin balm, lip balm and candles.

iv) Success of the above will lead to more suggestions to improve the project.