Rakyat disaran rebut peluang industri lebah - Ismail Sabri

ISMAIL Sabri Yaakob (dua dari kanan) dan Mustafa Kamal Baharuddin (tiga dari kanan) melihat kaedah mengeluarkan madu dari sarang lebah ketika melawat gerai jualan di Pusat Pertanian Parit Botak, Batu Pahat, Johor, semalam. - BERNAMA

BATU PAHAT 27 Jun - Kementerian Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani menyarankan masyarakat dan usahawan tani supaya menceburi industri lebah bagi mengurangkan jumlah import madu.

Menterinya, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob berkata, rakyat perlu merebut peluang untuk melabur dalam industri berkenaan kerana permintaannya semakin meningkat apabila setiap produk kesihatan, perubatan dan kosmetik menggunakan madu lebah.

Menurutnya, bagi memenuhi permintaan madu sebelum ini, negara perlu mengimportnya dari China, New Zealand dan Australia dengan nilai mencecah RM27 juta pada 2010 dan jumlah itu dijangka melonjakkan sehingga RM50 juta pada tahun ini.

"Sebab itu, kerajaan mahu rakyat menceburi industri lebah supaya mereka dapat menikmati hasilnya yang bukan sahaja daripada madu, sebaliknya produk hiliran yang turut mendapat permintaan tinggi.

"Untuk menarik minat rakyat, kementerian akan menyediakan satu pakej khas yang terdiri daripada latihan, pinjaman, sumbangan peralatan dan pemasaran produk di dalam dan luar nagara," katanya selepas merasmikan Hari Ladang Lebah di Pusat Pertanian Parit Botak, di sini hari ini.

Yang turut hadir ialah Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani negeri, Ismail Mohamed dan Ketua Pengarah Pertanian, Datuk Mustafa Kamal Baharuddin.

Ismail Sabri berkata, pihaknya juga akan melakukan perbincangan dengan Agro Bank dan Tabung Ekonomi Kumpulan Usaha Niaga (TEKUN) untuk menyediakan pinjaman kepada usahawan lebah yang baharu.

Beliau memberitahu, bagi melahirkan usahawan baharu itu, Jabatan Pertanian ditugaskan untuk menyemai minat masyarakat terhadap bidang berkenaan.

"Jabatan Pertanian akan membuat kajian tentang minat usahawan baharu. Malah, mereka juga perlu membuat tinjauan bagi memperbesarkan lagi industri yang dijalankan usahawan sedia ada.

"Pada masa akan datang, kementerian akan menghantar pegawai Jabatan Pertanian untuk mengikuti kursus di negara pengeksport madu lebah supaya kita juga mahir dalam industri tersebut," katanya.

Artikel Penuh: http://www.utusan.com.my/utusan/Dalam_Negeri/20130628/dn_08/Rakyat-disaran-rebut-peluang-industri-lebah---Ismail-Sabri#ixzz2Yw4mEct9
© Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd 

MARDI kumpul 30 spesies kelulut

Oleh Mohd Sabran Md Sani

Tidak ramai menyedari, lebah kelulut mampu mendatangkan pendapatan lumayan walaupun serangga itu gemar menjadikan batang pokok sebagai habitat semula jadinya.

Kelulut sering disamakan dengan spesies penyengat tetapi ia mempunyai nilai tinggi dalam pengeluaran madu berkualiti yang kaya dengan antioksidan.

Khasiat madu kelulut dikatakan dapat mening­katkan metabolisme badan, menambahkan tenaga batin, menjaga kecantikan, memberi tenaga kepada wanita yang baru bersalin dan membantu merawat kecederaan dalaman.

Madu kelulut juga memperlahankan pertumbuhan sel kanser, mengecutkan kerada­ngan dan meningkatkan daya imunisasi tubuh.

KELULUT menghasilkan tiga jenis madu iaitu madu (kiri), propolis dan pollen.

Khasiatnya dalam dunia perubatan memang banyak malah ujian turut dilakukan penyelidik Institut Penyelidikan dan Kemajuan Pertanian Malaysia (MARDI) dan Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

Di Malaysia terdapat kira-kira 30 spesies kelulut dan kebanyakannya ditemui di kawasan hutan.

Berbanding lebah yang hanya menghasil­kan madu, kelulut begitu unik kerana mengeluarkan tiga produk madu iaitu bebola madu, propolis dan pollen (debunga).

Melihat kepada pasaran madu kelulut, harganya mampu mencecah RM120 sebotol bagi 350 mililiter, sedangkan madu biasa dijual RM30 dalam kuantiti sama.

Pegawai Penyelidik MARDI, Mohd Fahimee Jaapar berkata, pihaknya giat mengumpulkan spesies kelulut di seluruh negara.

“Pada mulanya, kelulut digunakan MARDI sebagai agen pendebungaan. Kita mahu pokok yang ditanam berbuah dengan adanya agen pendebungaan iaitu kelulut. Bagi kami, pendebungaan adalah hasil pertama manakala madu dan propolis hasil kedua.

“Pemikiran bagi kebanyakan orang kampung, lebah kelulut tidak mempunyai madu, tetapi kajian mendapati serangga itu mengeluarkan madu se­tanding madu lebah,” katanya.

Semua spesies kelulut dikumpulkan sejak 2007 dan kini diternak di dua kawasan khas di MARDI iaitu di Bahagian Pendebungan dan kebun buah-buahan.

“Ada 15 spesies lebah kelulut dikumpulkan dan hanya dua spesies yang dikomersialkan iaitu jenis ‘Trigona Itama’ dan ‘Trigona Thoracica’,” katanya.

Mohd Fahimee dibantu rakan setugas iaitu Penolong Pegawai Penyelidik, Zulidzham Mohd Sani dan Pembantu Penyelidik Kanan, Hamdan Sipon.

Beliau berkata, hasil kajian dilakukan mendapati kelulut menghasilkan ‘ramuan’ untuk perubatan alternatif.

“Kelulut banyak ditemui di kawasan kampung terutama di negeri yang mempunyai pokok rambutan tua seperti di Melaka, Perak, Kedah dan Kelantan.

“Penebangan hutan secara berleluasa turut me­nyebabkan penghijrahan spesies terbabit ke kawasan kampung,” katanya.

Menurutnya, sarang kelulut dipindahkan dari tempat asalnya dalam batang kayu ke dalam kotak kayu buatan dan diternak di lapangan.

“Anak kelulut dimasukkan ke dalam kotak khas bagi menghasilkan madu.

“Setakat ini, lebah kelulut yang diternak menghasilkan propolis, pollen dan madu,” katanya.

Katanya, kelulut tidak menyengat, namun serang­ga itu hanya menye­rang orang pertama yang mendekatinya.

“Kelulut sama dengan lebah yang akan mengeluarkan ‘feromon’. Ketika ada bahaya, seekor lebah akan mengeluarkan sejenis bahan kimia dikenali feromon untuk memanggil rakannya.

“Bau berkenaan biasa­nya akan ditinggalkan pada musuh pertama, namun jika ramai, semua akan diserang,” katanya.

Menurutnya, setiap spesies kelulut menghasilkan bentuk sarang berbeza.

“Sistem lebah kelulut unik kerana setiap sarang akan ada tiang. Tiang ini dibina daripada propolis atau damar. Penutup sarang yang terdapat dalam koloni terbabit digunakan sebagai pertahanan diri,” katanya.

Katanya, madu kelulut mempunyai lebih antioksidan.

“Kelulut mengeluarkan propolis yang mengandungi antibiotik semula jadi, antimikrob, antifu­ngus dan antikanser.

“Sebab itu sarangnya tidak ada fungus. Ini kerana kelulut menggunakan resin daripada pokok, diproses di dalam badannya bagi mencegah pembiakan mikrob,” katanya.

Kajian di MARDI menunjukkan madu kelulut mempunyai asid fenilpropanaoik, asid protocatechuik dan asid 4-hidroksifenilasetik yang tergolong dalam kumpulan asid fenolik bebas.

“Ia boleh bertindak sebagai antikanser, antitumor dan antioksidan untuk diserap dalam tubuh manusia.

“Selain berupaya menurunkan glukosa, mengu­rangkan kerosakan fungsi ginjal dan me­ningkatkan ketebalan trabekular tulang yang menguatkan tulang melalui penyerapan,” katanya.

Kajian mendapati, kelulut boleh melakukan pendebungaan di Rumah Hijau berbanding lebah.

Katanya, pe­rancangan masa depan, Bahagian Mekanisasi dan Automasi MARDI membantu untuk mengeluarkan mesin penye­dut madu yang fleksibel dan mudah alih.

MARDI juga akan menawarkan kursus penternakan kelulut kepada orang ramai yang berminat untuk terbabit dalam industri itu.

“Bagi mereka yang mahu menternak kelulut, Unit Promosi dan Teknologi Mardi menawarkan kursus jangka pendek selama dua hari termasuk makan dan minum dengan kos RM600.

“Ia membabitkan 30 peratus teori dan selebihnya amali termasuk mengajar cara membelah kayu bagi memasukkan anak kelulut ke dalam kotak,” katanya.

Katanya, ada pe­serta kursus memperoleh pendapatan kira-kira RM10,000 sebulan dengan menternak kelulut secara komersial.

“Biasanya harga bagi sebatang kayu mengandungi anak kelulut dijual kepada penternak sekitar RM200 manakala kelulut di dalam kotak pula dijual sekitar RM500 hingga RM700.

“Bagaimanapun ke­banyakan penternak mendapatkan bekalan anak daripada pembalak dan harganya lebih rendah,” katanya.

sUMBER: http://www.hmetro.com.my/articles/MARDIkumpul30spesieskelulut/Article

Sperm Banks For Bees Help Preserve Biodiversity And Create New Breeds

Image Credit: Thinkstock.com

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Beekeepers around the United States have been experiencing an unusually high level of colony die-off and a group of Washington State University (WSU) researchers has just announced a plan to preserve the survival and biodiversity of honey bee colonies by creating a sperm bank for the tiny insects.

Using liquid nitrogen to preserve their samples, the WSU scientists said they will begin to collect bee semen from colonies across the US and Europe. They also say they plan to use these samples to produce more diverse, resilient honey bee subspecies.

According to Steve Sheppard, professor of entomology at WSU, bees face threats from invasive mites, pesticides and the agricultural practice of monoculture that offers little of the nutritional variety that bees need. Experts say that a combination of these factors typically plays a major role in a colony’s collapse.

In 1922, UK entomologists identified tracheal mites as the likely cause of widespread bee deaths on England’s Isle of Wight, causing the US to restrict the importation of live honey bees. Today, entomologists say the import ban has resulted in a limited honey bee gene pool.

“Honey bees, Apis mellifera, have 28 recognized subspecies – in Europe, Africa, and Asia, the general vicinity of where honey bees are thought to have originated,” said Sheppard.

Many entomologists have said these subspecies could be used to breed bees that are resistant to deadly mites or the effects of a limited diet.

In 2008, the USDA permitted WSU researchers to import honey bee semen for breeding purposes after the samples had passed a strict screening test for viruses.

Because beekeepers in different US climate zones have different demands of their bees, Sheppard and his colleagues identified three different subspecies for import. Southern beekeepers often want fast-breeding bees to provide pollination for early-blooming crops, while northern beekeepers want slow-breeding bees since young bees are susceptible to sudden cold snaps that often happen in the spring.

For warm-weather beekeepers, the WSU team collected semen from Italian bees, which are bred for that country’s more temperate climate. Sheppard and colleagues collected semen from Carniolan bees of the eastern Alps and Caucasian bees from the nation of Georgia for northern beekeepers.

According to WSU researcher Susan Cobey, applying a small amount of pressure to a mature drone’s abdomen will release the semen, which can then be collected in a syringe. The semen will remain viable at room temperature for up to 14 days, giving the team plenty of time to either freeze the sample or inseminate a queen.

While the WSU researchers are putting years of planning and work into their effort to boost bee biodiversity, some scientists say bees’ contribution to pollination and, therefore, to agriculture in general has been overstated.

According to the Keith S. Delaplane, a professor of entomology at the University of Georgia, the phrase “honey bees are responsible for every third bite of food we eat” is an example of “hyperbole” regarding the role of honey bees in agricultural pollination.

“I suspect that even in 1976 this estimate was generous and applicable only to the most affluent economies where hay-powered beef and dairy products, oilseeds, and fruits make up a significant fraction of the diet,” he said.

A recent analysis by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) found that about 5 to 8 percent of global food production is attributable to animal pollination.

Source: Brett Smith for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online

Killer Bee Attack: Science Explains Man's Death

Africanized honey bees, aka "killer bees," have spread throughout the southern United States.
CREDIT: Simon_g | Shutterstock.com 

A Texas man died after being attacked by a swarm of Africanized honeybees, sometimes called "killer bees."

Larry Goodwin, 62, was driving a tractor near his home south of Waco when he disturbed a pile of wood that contained a hive of the notoriously aggressive bees; eight people have been killed by the bees since 1990, the Waco Tribunereports.

"You can't believe how bad they are. They make me want to get out of this business," Allen Miller, owner of Bees Be Gone, who later destroyed the hive, told the Tribune. [Image Gallery: Honeybee Scouts Find Food]

"They can get up under your clothes where no other insect can go," Miller said. "In a hive of ordinary European bees, about 10 percent will attack if the hive is threatened, but with African bees, all of them attack you."

Eight to 10 stings per pound of body weight are considered lethal, according to the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Goodwin's family members told KCENTV.com that there was no part of his body that was not covered in bee stings.

When science goofs

T

he introduction of Africanized honeybees into the Western Hemisphere was the result of a scientific experiment gone awry, according to a Texas A&M University report.

In 1956, Warwick Kerr, a honeybee geneticist with the University of São Paulo, Brazil, imported African bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) to study. His intention was to selectively introduce traits such as disease resistance and faster reproductive rate into native honeybees.

But a handful of the African bees escaped into the wild, where they interbred with native bees to produce bees with traits primarily derived from their dominant African forbearers (traits of the more docile native bees tended to be recessive and therefore lost), leading to the term "Africanized honey bees." [Sting, Bite & Destroy: Nature's 10 Biggest Pests]

The bees spread rapidly from Brazil and are now found throughout South and Central America. Hives have been reported in the United States in Florida and across the South and Southwest into Southern California.

If attacked, run

Though the bees aren't predatory, they become very aggressive when defending their hive, and minor disturbances like a lawn mower or a moving car — even as far away as 100 feet (30 meters) — can trigger an attack.

And Africanized honeybees aren't picky about where they build a hive. Old tires, junk piles, building eaves, cement blocks, upturned flower pots and even empty soda cans have been occupied by the bees, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In the event of a bee attack, victims are advised to run as fast as they can toward an enclosed area like a car or building; even though some bees will follow, most will be shut out.

Protect your face and head as much as possible from stings by covering your head with a shirt or jacket. And do not jump into water (such as a swimming pool) to escape the bees — they will wait at the surface for their victim to come up for air, according to Texas A&M University.

Stings from Africanized honeybees aren't more venomous than stings from native honeybees, but victims tend to be stung dozens or hundreds of times.

Goodwin, who was reportedly stung more than 1,000 times, was pronounced dead at the scene. A woman and her daughter who tried to help were also hospitalized with dozens of stings, KCENTV.com reported; firefighters who responded to a 911 call were also attacked.

One redeeming quality

Researchers have noticed that Africanized honeybees seem to be isolated in their current range by temperature and rainfall, according to the USDA.

They cannot survive a cold winter, and they seem to dislike steady, year-long rainfall. "Rainfall over 55 inches, distributed evenly throughout the year, is almost a complete barrier to [Africanized honey bee] spread," entomologist José D. Villa of the Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Research Unit in Baton Rouge, La., told Agricultural Research magazine..

While attacks by the bees remain very rare, Miller told KCENTV.com that he's seen at least five cases of Africanized hives in the past month, more than he usually sees all year.

As loathed as they are, the Africanized bees might have one redeeming quality: They could hold the key to solving the problem of bee colony collapse disorder, a deadly syndrome that's wiping out native bee populations throughout North America and Europe.

Though the Africanized bees can carry the Varroa mites that have been implicated in colony collapse disorder, they have considerable resistance to the mites, unlike native honeybees. If researchers could isolate the trait that gives the Africanized bees their resistance, they may be able to save native honeybee populations.

Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.

Read more at: http://www.livescience.com/37094-man-dies-in-killer-bee-attack-africanized-honey-bees.html

Third of US honey bees killed last winter, threatening food supply

Honey beesShutterstock

Nearly one in three commercial honeybee colonies in the United States died or disappeared last winter, an unsustainable decline that threatens the nation's food supply.

Multiple factors -- pesticides, fungicides, parasites, viruses and malnutrition -- are believed to cause the losses, which were officially announced today by a consortium of academic researchers, beekeepers and Department of Agriculture scientists.

"We're getting closer and closer to the point where we don't have enough bees in this country to meet pollination demands," said entomologist Dennis vanEngelstorp of the University of Maryland, who led the survey documenting the declines.

Beekeepers lost 31 percent of their colonies in late 2012 and early 2013, roughly double what's considered acceptable attrition through natural causes. The losses are in keeping with rates documented since 2006, when beekeeper concerns prompted the first nationwide survey of honeybee health. Hopes raised by drops in rates of loss to 22 percent in 2011-2012 were wiped out by the new numbers.

The honeybee shortage nearly came to a head in March in California, when there were barely enough bees to pollinate the almond crop.

Had the weather not been ideal, the almonds would have gone unpollinated -- a taste, as it were, of a future in which honeybee problems are not solved.

"If we want to grow fruits and nuts and berries, this is important," said vanEngelstorp. "One in every three bites [of food consumed in the US] is directly or indirectly pollinated by bees."

Scientists have raced to explain the losses, which fall into different categories. Some result from what's called colony collapse disorder, a malady first reported in 2006 in which honeybees abandon their hives and vanish. Colony collapse disorder, or CCD, subsequently became a public shorthand for describing bee calamities.

Most losses reported in the latest survey, however, don't actually fit the CCD profile. And though CCD is largely undocumented in western Europe, honeybee losses there have also been dramatic. In fact, CCD seems to be declining, even as total losses mount. The honeybees are simply dying.

"Even if CCD went away, we'd still have tremendous losses," said entomologist Diana Cox-Foster at Pennsylvania State University. "CCD losses are like the straw that breaks the camel's back. The system has many other issues."

Studying these issues isn't easy. In real-world agricultural settings, it's hard to run the rigorous, every-last-variable-controlled experiments on which definitive conclusions are founded. These experiments can be run in labs and small-scale test fields, but whether those accurately reflect real-world complexity is debated.

Amidst the uncertainties, scientific attention has settled on a group of culprits, the most high-profile of which is a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids. These were developed in the 1990s, rushed to market with minimal studies of potential harms, and subsequently became the world's most-used pesticides.

In the last several years, it's become evident that neonicotinoids are extremely toxic to honeybees and, even in small, sub-lethal doses, make bees more vulnerable to disease. The European Union recently limited neonicotinoid use, and the US Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing their use.

Pesticide companies have fought the restrictions, arguing that neonicotinoids are unfairly blamed. Most non-industry scientists say the question isn't whether neonicotinoids are a problem, but where they fit into a constellation of problems.

"Different studies indicate that this class of pesticide is rather harmful to the bees," said honeybee pathologist Cédric Alaux of the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, who said the EU's restrictions are sensible. "However, we should not be too naive and think that it will solve the bee problem."

Just as important as neonicotinoids, and perhaps more so, are Varroa destructor mites. First detected in the United States in 1987, the mites weaken bees by sucking their hemolyph, the insect analogue of blood, and also transmit viruses and other parasites. A recent USDA report called Varroa "the single most detrimental pest of honey bees."

Read more at: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-05/9/winter-honey-bee-collapse

Honey bees dying on both sides of the Atlantic

by CHARLIE SMITH 


DARIOS / SHUTTERSTOCK

The BBC’s environmental reporter, Matt McGrath, has reported that some British MPs want to ban pesticides linked to the death of honey bees.

Bees are critical in pollinating crops, and their disappearance poses a threat to food production in many countries.

Members of the British parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee want a “moratorium on the use of sprays containing neonicotinoids”, according to McGrath’s article on the BBC website.

He noted that the Conservative government has resisted supporting a European Union ban on neonicotinoids.

But the committee chair, Labour MP Joan Walley, has argued that peer-reviewed research makes it clear that there’s a serious problem.

McGrath quoted Walley’s claim that the government has been “extraordinarily complacent”.

Earlier this year, SFU bee expert Mark Winston, director of the Centre for Dialogue, told the Straight that he's writing a book that will highlight research into the various factors behind the demise of honey bee populations.

"The problem with bees is culturally and scientifically considerably more fascinating than most of us realize," Winston said in January. "It's a problem that speaks volumes about how agriculture is done. It speaks volumes about some of the hidden costs we have because of the large number of small challenges we have in our environment.”

He revealed at the time that there is a "whole array" of factors underlying the problem, including the rise of monoculture in agriculture, diseases, some beekeeping practices, and the large number of pesticides.

"It's not going to go away until we change the way we keep bees—and to change the way we keep bees, we have to also be simultaneously changing the way we do agriculture,” Winston declared.

Read more at: http://www.straight.com/blogra/369551/honey-bees-dying-both-sides-atlantic

Charged bees can sense electric flower fields

By Philippa Warr

Positively charged bees are able to recognise electric signals given off by flowers as part of the plant pollination strategy.

The electrical signalling works in tandem with other signs such as colour, pattern and fragrance to tell bumblebees (and other insect pollinators) about the amount of nectar and pollen they may contain.

"This novel communication channel reveals how flowers can potentially inform their pollinators about the honest status of their precious nectar and pollen reserves" said co-author Heather Whitney of the University of Bristol.

Generally the flowers are negatively charged and generate a weak electric field while the bees become positively charged as they fly around -- the study suggests the charge can build to around 200 volts. The sensation felt by a positive bee meeting a negative plant can be enough to convey snippets of information while its absence could reveal whether the flower has recently hosted another insect.

The biologists noted that not only could the bumblebees tell the difference between various floral electric fields, but when learning to tell two colours apart having an electric field involved sped up the process.

"The co-evolution between flowers and bees has a long and beneficial history, so perhaps it's not entirely surprising that we are still discovering today how remarkably sophisticated their communication is," said Daniel Robert, who also worked on the study. He also stressed how a bee's intelligence made it necessary for the flowers to develop an effective communication strategy: "bees are good learners and would soon lose interest in such unrewarding flowers".

The exact mechanics by which the bees detect these electrical variations is not fully understood, although the explanation favoured by the researchers is that coming near the charged flowers causes the bees' fur to "bristle", like when you hold the back of your hand a couple of millimetres from an old TV screen.

Image: Laurent Jégou / CC BY ND 2.0

Read more at: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-02/22/bee-electric-flowers