Bob Harrison <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Actually when we think of China beeks we think of keeping a hundred hives
>and extracting honey in tents.

In 1949, there were only 500,000 colonies of domestic bees, including
100,000 colonies of Western bee [mellifera] and 400,000 colonies of Chinese
bee [cerana]. 

The number of colonies of Chinese bee jumped from 500,000 in the end of the
1970s to 1 million ten years later. In 1991, China boasted 7.541 million
colonies of domestic bees, 42.3 per cent more than in 1979 and accounting
for 13 per cent of the world's total. 

[During this same period the numbers in the USA went from 6 million down to
2 million]

In 1991 China's honey output reached 208,000 tons or 20 per cent of the
world's total. The output of royal jelly was 1000 tons, bee pollen 800 tons,
and beeswax 3000 tons. This made China the number one producer.]

In Zhejiang province an average colony yield is 100 kg (220 lb), reaching
200 kg, and royal jelly production per colony ranges from 2.5 kg to 4 kg.

Apiculture in China, 1993
Beijing, 100026, China

pb

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