We at Milea have been producing cosmetic products for years now and we have been using natural bees wax as a major ingredient in various natural and organic products. We sourced our bees wax requirements around the country. What we knew then was that, when honey hunters are done with honey harvest, they normally throw away the wax and so by buying the same and putting it to good use, we were able
to increase their earning potential. However, in one of our visits to the source of our bees wax, it came to our attention that some honey hunters of our native honey bees (Apis cerana) still practice traditional harvesting methods. Honey is harvested in a non-sustainable way, on a one-cut-take-all basis, where the entire comb is cut off, the honey is squeezed out and the larvae are sold to be cooked and consumed. The bees lose their offspring and if the colonies survive, they subsequently leave the area. To avoid being stung, often the bees are killed using insecticides or by lighting a fire under the tree at night. Unless the queen survives, not only the larvae, but the entire bee colony is lost and dies. Furthermore, we learned that our native stingless bees (Trigona spp.) are being torched-to-death upon sight in some areas. This species of honey bees have been an unrewarded but valuable pollination aid to our farmers ever since and yet its colony defence behaviour have been misunderstood – resulting to their colonies’ termination. With these in mind, we tried to dig dipper and searched for valuable beekeeping practices that we can share to our local honey hunters. We did lots of research and attended proper trainings in the hope of providing new beekeeping technologies and honey harvesting practices that would promote sustainability of our local honey bee species: Apis dorsata (Giant Asian Honey Bee), Apis cerana (Asian Honey Bee), and Trigona spp. (Stingless Bees). For a start, we did some training with traditional honey hunters in the uplands of Mabinay, Negros Oriental. We aim to put a message across that pollination is the primary purpose of beekeeping and that honey harvest a plus. We teach them updated beekeeping practice: from hunting, management, hygienic harvesting, and post harvest. The farmers are made to understand the importance of honeybees, its role in ecology to help in pollinating plants, and the health benefits that honey and other hive products provide. They were given lectures on basic bee biology, and methods of attracting honeybees to their desired location using queen cages, swarm traps, and other pertinent beekeeping methods. Everything in the program is designed simply so it can be replicated in other areas. The same training module is geared to be introduced in other suitable areas in the future, mainly to update farmers on the proper beekeeping practice and to increase crop production. It is our wish to continually cultivate the enthusiasm of our local farmers to nurture their own honey bee colonies that may pave the way towards natural and sustainable agriculture. After all, our modest goal is to promote sustainable agriculture to nurture people by working with nature.
