Randy, et. al.;

Many thanks for your advice on extractors, it has helped.  Now, FYI, a little background on beekeeping that I have seen in Malawi.  Malawi is one of the poorest countries in Africa, and the beekeepers I have met and worked with are very poor.  However, most of the beekeepers I am working with are organized into clubs of 10-12 and they work together to manage around 100 top bar hives.  In this particular area I am in at present, Mzuzu, a local coffee cooperative is providing top bar hives to its member farmers in order to diversify farmer income and to use the coffee processing buildings and equipment in the off season.  Beekeepers pay back the co-op over 2 years with honey or money.  Both entities are making money on honey, as this is an area of rich flora but with few managed hives though plenty of wild bees.  The problem is very crude honey harvesting, extracting, and processing, which is why I am here.  On the most basic level, we are teaching beekeepers to separate brood and pollen frames from honey, then light and dark frames of honey after harvest, and to only extract ripe honey.  I am also working with the processors to clean up the honey and pack it for retail sale.  The packers have problems getting quality jars, no glass or PETE is available here.

Yesterday I was taken to Nyika National game park.  The game park allows the coffee co-op beekeepers from local villages to bring top bar hives into the game park to take advantage of the flora.  In exchange, the beekeepers help with controlled burns and alert the park rangers to poachers, a very serious problem in game parks.  The chief game park researcher told me the beekeepers had helped them catch and prosecute 5 poachers with firearms this year alone, so this is a mutually beneficial relationship.  The project I am working for was created specifically for this reason:  to help poor villages develop sustainable enterprises that encourage ownership and sustainable management of forests and wildlife, and it is gratifying to see this project having success.  The coffee co-op is very pleased with progress so far.  They distributed 1000 top bar hives last year, will distribute 3000 this year and 3000 the year after.  Again, the biggest problem is getting the beekeepers to keep the honey clean and separate.  We are working with African bees.  No drugs, no miticides, no nothing but bees and nature.  Interestingly one of the big benefits of the top bar hive is the fact that it can be hung from tree branches and is therefore out of range of honey badgers (which are plentiful), ants, and termites.  I didn't see any game yesterday but there were plenty of elephant droppings around.  The bees are hot but the coffee co-op is providing pretty good protective equipment and smokers, and plastic buckets in which to collect and store honey.  I have seen dark and lihgt honey, all of very good quality.  When I get able I can post some photos.

many thanks for help and advice,  Bee-L is great!

Bill Lord
Mzuzu Malawi (for now)

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