Protect our Pollinators

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In Penang, Mr V Subbarow, (Education Officer CAP) wanted his team to learn more about cultivating bees sustainably. So what does he do? He calls upon a bee expert from India Mr. P. Kaliyamurthi from Lalgudi, Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu on a week long queen bee expedition. Along the way they would educate several organic farmers in Penang, Kedah and Perak how to cultivate bees to help improve pollination and increase yields on their farms.

But first they had to find their queen bee. After close to a week looking for a queen be Mr Subbarow came across a farmer in Balik Pulau, Penang who reported a hive in an old tyre. Mr Kaliyamurthi with his 30 years of experience extracted the queen bee by hand. No smoke. No harming the hive.

An alarming buzz

Mr. Kaliyamurthi was shocked at how difficult it was to find bees here. After visiting several areas in Penang, Kedah and Perak over a weak they only found 3 bee nests. In that same time span he would have found at least 20 bee nests in his own town! CAP attributes this to the increase use in pesticides, weed-killers, noise pollution and harmful bee harvesting practices. All of these are driving bees further into the jungle or causing colonies to collapse.

In a press release , CAP shared reasons we should start protecting our pollinators:

– Bees help in pollination. Honey bees travel from flower to flower, collecting nectar and pollen grains. The bee collects the pollen by rubbing against the anthers. The pollen collects on the hind legs. As the bee flies from flower to flower, some of the pollen grains are transferred onto the stigma of other flowers. Thus, their role in cross pollination is of great importance. Besides that farmers are able to collect pure honey. This honey has many health building properties.

– Bees travel 24km per hour and they could make more than 900 trips from flower to nest and uncountable times from flower to flower. Hopping from one flower to another helps in cross pollination and thus increases yield up to 20 to 30%.

– A bee that sits on pesticide filled flower brings the nectar to its colony. This nectar is fed by the queen bee to its growing worker bees. That way the whole colony is poisoned. Thus in the last 20 years there has been a tremendous drop in number of bee nests.

– A Queen bee is 2.8 times bigger than worker bee and male bees. Once queen bee is shifted to the bee box the whole colony follows the queen to the new bee nest. A queen bee lays 1,000 to 2,000 eggs per day. One bee colony approximately has 50,000 bees. A very strong colony can have up to 100,000 bees. Keeping bee involves experience and expertise.

Here is a video with a glimpse of the bee box at CAP's urban vegetable garden. Mr Subbarow talks about their bee box and the potential of sustainable bee cultivating.