Gisborne beekeepers facing challenges All is not sweet with the bee industry. So what's the buzz? Bee industry heads met with Gisborne beekeepers this week to discuss challenging issues such as bee health, the decline in honey prices, pollination as a service option, bee diseases and much-needed funding for research. Avneesh Vincent reports . . .Bee health is always an important issue for the industry and at the moment varroa is a big issue for beekeepers nationwide,” Apiculture New Zealand chief executive Karin Kos says.Varroa is an external parasite that attacks and feeds on honey bees, spreading a disease called Varroosis.Latest survey results on the varroa mite show Gisborne suffers one of the country’s highest bee colony losses from varroa.The New Zealand Colony Loss survey has been conducted annually by Manaaki Whenua since 2015 and is funded by the Ministry for Primary Industries.The 2021 survey found the mid-North Island region, including Gisborne, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Hawke’s Bay, recorded the country’s highest loss, with 8.6 percent of all colonies lost to the disease.In previous surveys, colony losses were most often attributed to “queen problems” in hives, but last year marked a change as the parasite was found to be responsible for nearly 40 percent of all losses.Ms Kos said the industry scientists and researchers were working round the clock to get a better understanding of what was driving the increase of mites.“While we don’t have all the answers yet, we certainly know that beekeepers are having to do a lot more to stay on top of Varroa.”The mite was discovered at Pukekohe, South Auckland, 22 years ago.It is believed the mites might have hitchhiked their way in on a shipping container.And they are becoming more virulent.“It’s just getting worse and worse,” WildCape Honey Ltd owner Bill Savage said. His company has more than 5000 hives over 110 sites spread all over the East Coast.Like many beekeepers, he has lost beehives to varroa over the years.He said the treatments for mites were also getting “difficult”.“Up until four or five years ago two treatments were deemed sufficient. But now we have come to the stage where we are giving three or four treatments to get rid of the mites.”Recommended treatment methods usually involve treating beehives with Bayvarol and oxalic acid.Mr Savage said the varroa mites were building up resistance to the treatments.“Now that I think is the biggest challenge ahead in the industry, as more treatments incur more cost,” he said.'We have got a bit of work to do . . . 'Ms Kos said another big issue for the industry was the imbalance in supply and demand in the honey market.“On the plus side, demand for our honey with international customers is strong and we have had some huge growth in our markets in the past few years.”The growing popularity of manuka honey had been driving the industry forward.“Over the past couple of years it has been challenging. We have started to see honey prices drop as supply has outstripped demand, creating some significant stockpiles of honey.”In 2008, the country had a total of 343,000 hives producing honey. In 2019 the number of hives tripled to almost a million, causing an imbalance in the demand and supply for honey production.Ms Kos said the industry was also facing some constraints with the international supply chain.“For example, due to the pandemic, we have seen the demand for use of natural products like honey rise.“However, the pandemic has also caused product to sit in ports due to lockdowns, which we are seeing in some cities in China. As a result customers are unable to buy the products.”Industry figures valued New Zealand’s pure honey export for 2021 at $462.1 million, down from $505.5 million in 2020.However, the $7.5 billion industry doesn’t just value its honey and bee products. It also includes the provision of pollination services.Bees play a critical pollination role in the agricultural and horticultural sectors and are needed to help in the production of fruit such as gold kiwifruit and apples.Mr Savage said since most beekeepers like him were unable to sell their excess honey, industry heads were considering the alternative of providing pollination services for fruit production.“The kiwfruit industry needs a huge number of bees to pollinate their fruit. New Zealand has approximately 8000 hectares all in kiwifruit. And for production they need about 10 hives per hectare.“Roughly it means the industry would need around 80,000 hives of bees pollinating the kiwifruit.”At present the beekeeper was paid about $230 for setting up and managing the hive for pollination, he said.“In the future we could definitely see Gisborne beekeepers using pollination while keeping honey in the sidelines to fix the demand and supply issue for honey.”Mr Savage said carrying out pollination services would also cut down additional costs such as transportation.The cost of getting hives to places such as Te Araroa was about $600 for 40 hives per truck.For the 3500 hives he uses to produce honey, it would cost more than $50,000.“But if you just keep them local you can basically put them into pollination and have them somewhere very close to town and have reduced cost of operation,” he said.An industry head from the national American Foulbrood (AFB) pest management plan was also in the region for the first time this week.AFB national operations manager Marco Gonzalez said he was excited to work with local beekeepers towards eradicating the bee disease.American foulbrood disease is caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae.The bacterium causing AFB exists in the spore form and the vegetative form, both of which are microscopic.The bacterial spores were resistant to a range of disinfectants. AFB spores can survive more than 35 years, and withstand boiling water and many disinfectants.Mr Gonzalez said a honey bee larva was usually infected by being fed AFB spores which contaminated the brood food placed in its cell by nurse bees.AFB Pest Management Plan describes the disease as a small fire in the orchard.The disease is present in less than one percent of the total hives owned by beekeepers across the country.An AFB outbreak in Te Araroa was detected about two years ago and was brought under control.Mr Gonzalez said although AFB hotspots were also detected in Tikitiki, Gisborne beekeepers were doing a “good job” to ensure low incidence of the disease.“However, a lot of challenges we face involve a number of beekeepers, especially the ones who are unregistered, who do not report the disease to the agency, “AFB is a bacterial disease that kills honey bees and beekeepers cannot prevent the disease from arriving in their beehives.“Our aim is to encourage them to keep good communication with their agency, so they can raise concerns if they know of any outbreak,” he said.Mr Savage said one of the other challenges for the industry was much-needed funding for research studies on apiculture activities.“So while we may have a fantastic product we cannot extensively market its real value since there is still no real research that has been done.”Ms Kos says that while there are current headwinds, the New Zealand honey and bee industry does have strong growth potential, especially in Gisborne which has a suitable warm climate and environment for both honey production and pollination.“So I think it’s a very positive future for New Zealand but we have got a bit of work to do . . .”
Hauora Tairawhiti staff relay their wayStaff walk around Gisborne Hospital in fundraising effort for Gisborne-East Cancer Society.Hauora Tairāwhiti staff from multiple departments walked around Gisborne Hospital in a Relay Our Way fundraising effort for Gisborne-East Cancer Society. This version of the fundraiser was held to replace the Covid-affected, community-wide Relay for Life.Some of the walkers carried hospital equipment used in their work. The fundraiser also featured the sale of baked goodies, a raffle and a barbecue supported by Gisborne Wainui Lions and Walter Findlay Ltd.
Courage on display in performance at Matapuna Training CentreThe sound of music echoed through the hall of Matapuna Training Centre as students ended their musical learning on a crescendo.The concert was led by Chamber Music New Zealand engagement artist Cathy Irons and musician Mark La Roche and was the culmination of three back-to-back workshops since this Monday.Ms Irons said the event was about providing students who were not attending mainstream secondary schools, with opportunities to learn a range of skills.“The idea was to offer a music programme to students that would open a space for them to develop their own creativity and musical ideas,” she said. “Today's concert was a culmination of what they have learnt in these past three days.” Nine students took part in the workshops and were given basic lessons on such instruments as drums and ukelele. Ms Irons and Mr La Roche also worked with the students on songwriting, encouraging original works. The initiative was about bringing together young people of varied musical backgrounds to engage in a shared performance.During the evenings the two conducted music workshops at Tauawhi Men's Centre.They enjoyed connecting and sharing their passion for music with the men, teaching them skills to take away, and to open new ways of communication.“Today's concert and our work at Tauawhi is part of the exciting new three-year partnership Chamber Music New Zealand has with the Gisborne International Music Competition with three focuses — learn, connect and create,” said Ms Irons.“This takes the form of music residencies, mentoring programmes, workshops and touring concerts in the Gisborne region.”Mr La Roche said that after talking to some of the students he realised that for many this was the first time they had performed in public. “It takes a lot of courage to do that and I think they should be incredibly proud of what they have achieved.” None
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