Pollinating Peaches: New Avenues for Beekeeping in Guatemala

Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteers, Carolyn Breece and Ellen Topitzhofer support Guatemalan beekepers from MOSCAMED

Keeping honey bees can provide economic opportunity in several different ways, depending on your locale and situation. In areas with intensive agriculture, honey bees are crucial for proper pollination, and crop growers will rent colonies during the pollination period. Everywhere else, honey bees can provide their keepers with honey, wax, and other hive products to sell or consume. When we heard of the opportunity to volunteer with Farmer-To-Farmer, we were thrilled at the chance to learn about beekeeping in Guatemala. How did honey bees fit into their agriculture and local economics? Was migratory pollination a thing in Guatemala? Did their bees produce a lot of honey? How do they deal with Africanized bees? 

We were matched up with host, MOSCAMED, an organization that is leading efforts to eradicate the Mediterranean fruit fly. MOSCAMED has developed a strong beekeeping program which includes community beekeeper education and an ambitious effort to replace highly defensive Africanized honey bees with a gentler European stock imported from the U.S. MOSCAMED was interested in having Farmer-To-Farmer volunteers provide workshops to their staff, community beekeepers, and growers of crops utilizing bees for pollination (e.g., coffee, peaches).

We arrived in late November, wide-eyed and eager to meet Guatemalan beekeepers. After a 3-hour drive on narrow mountain roads, through communities selling coconuts and bananas, and past massive volcanoes (one which was spewing ash!), we arrived at the MOSCAMED headquarters. We met our new Guatemalan colleagues and toured the facility. When we saw the sign, “Meliponario,” we were awestruck! Melipona bees are stingless bees. They are only found in tropical regions of the world, a strong contrast to cold and rainy Oregon. There were many different Melipona species, and each has its own nesting style. The Meliponario is a delightful collection of these nests, some in logs, some in clumps of soil, some in man-made boxes. There were tiny bees, striped bees, fat bees, shiny bees….We spent hours watching and photographing these incredible stingless bees! After the fun with the stingless bees, we focused on our assignment: to share our expertise in keeping the western honey bee (Apis mellifera L.). The next two days, we gave lectures to MOSCAMED staff and community beekeepers on topics including managing Africanized honey bees, a technology-transfer team program in the U.S., an invasive pest called Small Hive Beetle, processing and selling honey, and a feature on beekeeping in Oregon, which highlighted commercial pollination.

We also had the opportunity to visit apiaries. We listened to beekeepers expressing frustration with colony losses, low honey yields, Africanized bees, and Varroa mites (a common ectoparasite). We carefully took notes and provided research-based recommendations on how to address the problems. We recommended further research into a fly of unknown species which is predating bee colonies. We also recommended strengthening of the queen bee program and procurement of a gentler stock of queen bees for Guatemalan beekeepers. Beekeeping is difficult worldwide, but we hope our recommendations could help some Guatemalan beekeepers develop a thriving beekeeping industry. 

 Our Farmer-To-Farmer experience was very meaningful for us. We expect the trained MOSCAMED beekeepers will encourage other beekeepers and growers in Guatemala to collaborate and share best practices in beekeeping. We hope beekeepers will consider pollination of crops new to Guatemala (like peaches) and apply best practices from commercial pollination in the US for these crops. We plan to continue to develop training materials in Spanish to provide to MOSCAMED and local beekeepers. Guatemala is a gorgeous country, and though there are challenges, the people are among the warmest and kindest we have ever met. They were dedicated to learning and sharing, which created a beautiful connection between our two countries. We deeply appreciate the Farmer-To-Farmer opportunity, and we hope to volunteer again soon.