Beekeeping in Taiwan (ROC)

General Bee Chat
1

Hi everyone, it’s been a very long time since my last post.
Today I like to shared my beekeeping experience when I went to Agriculture Center Research & Extension, Taiwan (which is part of my Agriculture Study Tour in Taiwan). I went to beekeeping section and met their chief, associate researcher, and assistance researcher, we talk many thing about beekeeping here in Taiwan.

So this topic is based on my comparative study between Taiwan & Indonesia beekeeping. Before I talk to much let me give you an introduction about beekeeping in that two country.

Number of bee hives (mellifera):
Taiwan : About 120.000 (Est 2016)
Indonesia : About 40.000 (Est 2016)

Pollination Service?
Taiwan : Yes, widely known (Open field & Greenhouse, using bees owned by farmers - not beekeepers)
Indonesia : No, most peoples only care about honey & bees product, don’t know the impact of honeybees pollination or think pollination is important (have big impact for agriculture)


Paid Pollination?
Taiwan : No (Farmers bought some bees colonies from beekeepers, mostly every 1-2 month depending from theirs crop)
Indonesia : No (Beekeepers paid farmers or growers when put his/her bees in field)


Varroa Control
Taiwan : Drone Remove, Formic Acid, OA, Drone Comb Attraction, Fluvalinate (Locally made).
Indonesia : Apistan, Mavrik (Fluvalinate-based), amitraz-based, Sulfur, Tobacco, and right now government will start to introduce “check-mite”.

Government Support
Taiwan : Some said only minor support, but from my perspective relatively balance, Taiwan Government give “enough” support for beekeeping such as: Annual research budget, produce & improve Taiwan own Fluvalinate, work together with Taiwan Beekeeping Association for bees campaign, fund some research & documentary, etc
Indonesia : Mostly honey & its derivative product, also propolis, they also made National Honey Standardization - we know that as SNI (Standar Nasional Indonesia), etc.

source:
Taiwan (Taiwan Beekeeping Association, Beekeeping Researchers from Miaoli, Taiwanese Farmers & Growers)
Indonesia (Indonesia Beekeeping Association, Indonesian beekeepers, personal research & observation)

Bonus:

Taiwanese Bee Hives

Hopeful it give you a new perspective of beekeeping from other countries, and don’t mind to ask me if you want to know more about that.

6 Likes
2

Very interesting Post.Thanks michang. However, I didn’t understand the chart, Would you add some detail about how the control is exercised?

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There is a correlation between the upper section (nectar based) & bottom section (varroa control) of the chart.
This chart show us about months (time schedule) to treat hive compared to beekeeping activity (mostly migratory beekeepers). It’s doesn’t mean that beekeeper who bring his bees to tea tree, rape, or lichi will not used “OA” or “Formic Acid”, it just show us about what kind of treatment beekeepers used, and when they used it.

Cheers! :smile:

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By the way if someone intresting about this topics, I think you can watch this documentary for a while. This is a good documentary I believe : http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/winners/2015/pieces.php?iid=478898&pid=1
a low version resolution (Max quality 720p HD). It’s mostly in English (either audio or subtitle).

1 Like
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Thank you for posting this, this is very interesting. Do you know anybody in taiwan that sells queen bees?

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You can visit Taiwan beekeepers association, or Ilan / Yilan University, or Bees Research Center. They have many connection, and when you bought from that place, usually you will get better quality bees stock :slight_smile:

Better quality stock is very important for new beekeepers, it give you a good start :slight_smile:

1 Like