BY LYNTON AARON FILIA
LOCAL bee keepers in Dala of Malaita province have learnt new skills after a field demonstration on bee keeping facilitated by the Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM).
During the field demo, TTM’s honey bee specialist Mr Pak Chiu taught local bee keepers how to use small wooden blocks between the wooden bee hive cover and the bee hive body.
Educating bee keepers in the particular area, Mr Chiu said it is very helpful for bee keepers to avoid crushing the bees when closing bee hives.
Following that Mr Chiu also introduced some new feeding techniques which are an application of pumpkin syrup that can be a replacement of pollen.
Not only that but also he taught them the ratio to make the pumpkin syrup.
“This type of feeding can help bees survive under bad conditions of weather,” he said.
“This can also helpful where there is not enough honey plants, and also the reason of having change weather pattern we must know how to feed the bees.”
Chiu also presented some of the recommendations from professor Yue-Wen Chen from Ilan University.
Professor Yue-Wen Chen from Ilan University in Taiwan urged bee keepers in Malaita province to work hard in their bee keeping project.
He also said in Solomon Islands the major problem faced is not much about the competition of bee foods, or lack of materials but it is about a lack of knowledge in terms of management.
With the challenges bee keepers facing, TTM has been working cooperatively with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to help local bee keepers address the problems.
With these skills and techniques that are being taught the TTM hope to see more changes and improvements in term of bee keeping in Solomon Islands.
The field demo was facilitated by the honey specialist Mr Pak Chiu from the Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM) in Solomon Islands, and with Officer Rex Ramoiau from Auki extension.
The field demo was conducted on 24th October 2018.
