Editorial

As we come to the close of 2016 and enter a new year its good to take time to
reflect on the past twelve months. My dad always told me that every day in
beekeeping is a school day, you learn something new and he also added, with a
wry smile on his face, the day you think you know it all, your doomed - if you
are not careful the bees will always catch you out, he would add.
Well 2016 has been a serious learning curve for me, coming in as President and
following in the footsteps of my predessor Gilles Ratia was, as I saw it, a somewhat
daunting task. Many times during the past year I have referred to and complimented
Gilles for all his efforts as President and indeed Asger Jorgennson
too, the previous President.
My role, as I see it, is to be a link between the beekeepers and the scientists. In
Universities and Research Centres across the world excellent work is being
carried out into all aspects of beekeeping, whether its Varroa, Nosema Cerena,
GMO’s, Small Hive Beetle (SHB), Foul Brood or Adultered Honey, beekeepers
are seeking answers to the myrid of difficulties now facing us all.
Over the past year I have visited twelve countries and the common denominator
is that beekeepers are being stretch like never before. The problems facing us
vary from country to country and region to region – bee losses, cost increases,
what to use to treat varroa, will the SHB arrive and what should we do if we get
the Asian Giant Hornet (Vespa Mandarinia), are just some of the questions
being posed.
In Eastern Bloc countries and the Arab World there is a wonderful beekeeping
industry with many excellent beekeepers. In Africa too, judging by my ‘What’s
App’, many countries have educational programmes to assist members in
enhancing their beekeeping knowledge and who are looking at their beekeeping
practices to see if they can improve their production and thereby their incomes.
In October I had the pleasure of visiting Dubai to witness the arrival of an Cargo
Plane carying a load of package bees – about 6,000 each load. From early
September to the end of October a plane per day of honeybees arrives in both
Dubai and Jeddah from Egypt. This was truly an amazing sight and to see the
airports ground handling staff, wearing bee suits, remove the bees from the
plane after first of all altering the tempreture on the plane before removing
them.
Hopefully Apimondia can play a role in helping everyone and this means better
communications between all of us.
Across the world this is holiday time for some of you and not for others but I
always remind myself that the honeybee does not recognise, religon, nationalities
or borders, so at the end of 2016 can I wish you all happiness and good
beekeeping for 2017.

Philip McCabe
President of APIMONDIA