Basic knowledge in Agriculture #44

Discussion on Apiculture

Agriculture is broad; and this has given room to participate in various forms of it. This potential had birthed apiculture.
Apiculture from my knowledge and little research, is the branch of agriculture that focus mainly on keeping and rearing bees. It is also called beekeeping. The bees kept in this branch are groomed for the production of honey which is extracted from the comb among the colony
Farmers involved in the keeping of bees are called the apiarist; bees are kept in the apiary and the bees involved in the making of honey are mostly the worker bees’

Types of apiculture

Based on my knowledge, just like most of@ other areas of agriculture, apiculture is of two types
Commercial apiculture
Small-scale apiculture

Breaking them down:

1. Commercial apiculture: this type of agriculture is one where the farmer or the apiarist is well invested in his beekeeping with the intention of making back his profit and generating more income from the amount of honey his colony is able to produce. It could also be referred to as large scale apiculture.
   The amount of honey gotten from this type of apiculture is large since it is coming with the intention of being sold out to lot of people.
   Of course, it requires a larger amount of capital to start, more land, equipments and other things.

2. Small scale apiculture: its name is already giving it away. In contrast to commercial apiculture, small-scale apiculture comes with no intention of being sold to people or making profit from it. Some people would also refer to it as backyard beekeeping.
   The apiarist involved keeps and rears his colony either out of hobby, leisurely or to make honey for himself and family only.
   Unlike commercial type, it could be started with less amount of capital, land and equipment.

Source: flyermaker

Challenges and solutions in Apiculture.

A. Pests and diseases: Yes, bees can also get attacked by other pests (their natural enemies). Vorroa mites are one of the insects capable of attacking bees and causing them destruction and diseases.
solution: the use of certain and selective insecticides can help to get rid of the natural enemies.
B. Disorder of colony collapse : in this situation, the colony collapse and brings the honey production into halt. This result from the emigration of the worker bees from the apiary.
solution: providing a conducive apiary and environment for the bees could be of help in this situation. With this, the worker bees would be in a condition that would retain them and promote honey production from them.
C. Chemical use: there would definitely be a reason to use chemical containing substances such as pesticides and insecticides but exposure to its excessive use can be detrimental.
solution: apiarist can try to curb the rate at which they use the chemicals and check out the products for highly concentrated chemicals.

Finally done with my piece.
To this content, I'm inviting @caringmanasseh @zulay7059 @databae

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