# Beekeeping in Stans



## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

Stans ~ Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, .... and the rest of the "stans" (few more countries).
No one hardly talks about beekeeping in these countries as if this is some "inconvenient truth" of sorts.

Afghanistan has the western most confirmed population of A. cerana.
Tajikistan is an adjacent county to the North.

I was looking at this presentation here and found it amusing somewhat in that the author of the web page was trying to teach to how properly keep bees to the local crowd (I only guess, per the pictures).
Meanwhile, these folks will just continue doing whatever they have been doing, and probably for the better.
They seem oblivious of the Western issues, including the Varroa, all the while their bees probably covered in mites - again, I can only guess.
Maybe some resistant bees are right in front of everyone, just being ignored.
Or maybe they truly have no mites just yet.
I have no idea either way, but the area seems a white spot and maybe a diamond in the rough.

http://outdoorplace.org/photogallery/Tajikistan_beekeeping.htm

Just more of related stuff:
https://www.oie.int/doc/ged/D11452.PDF


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

In the BuckfastImker (Magazin for the European buckfast breeders) there was an article from Kazakstan, near Altai mountains, I think the writer was Geert van Eizenga. He is a beekeeping consult travelling around the world and doing project works. 
http://rug.academia.edu/GeertVanEizenga

Meda bees from Eastern Iran, near Afganistan border, have been used in breeding in Europe because of their varroa resistance.


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

Thanks for the tip.
Turns out, A. m. meda has the mite resistance too.
Inconveniently, global politics get in a way. 

https://www.scholarsresearchlibrary...s-mellifera-medaagainst-varroa-destructor.pdf

They are even talking how the Carni-mutts are compatible or maybe better in the mite resistance than the local bee.

http://www.entomoljournal.com/archives/2016/vol4issue5/PartI/4-5-1-495.pdf


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Interesting how everywhere people can't afford to treat they don't seem to have Varroa problems...


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

Michael Bush said:


> Interesting how everywhere people can't afford to treat they don't seem to have Varroa problems...


Adapted to the US: the less money you spend on the bees, the better off you are. Ideally - $0. Hehe.




> Afgan beekeepers remain largely unaware of diseases and parasitic mites, their recognition and control, and this lack of knowledge will cause further disease spread.


Heard this before.
Westerners just don't get it - leave Afganistan alone and everyone will be better off (including the bees).
Be it politics, beekeeping, or whatever.


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

Here is a very cool video of beekeeping in some Arab location.
This should be another eye opener:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8IN3VeILaQ


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## Nhaupt2 (May 31, 2016)

Michael Bush said:


> Interesting how everywhere people can't afford to treat they don't seem to have Varroa problems...


I didn't see that anywhere in the photo essay. I saw some guys standing in front of boxes.


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## SeaCucumber (Jun 5, 2014)

Opium production improved a lot since the USA's Afghanistan invasion. They also said farmers weren't paid well.

USA beek program


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## little_john (Aug 4, 2014)

Juhani Lunden said:


> In the BuckfastImker (Magazin for the European buckfast breeders) there was an article from Kazakstan, near Altai mountains,


I think some appreciation of the terrain in Kazakstan and the Altai mountains in particular might help to shed some light on why diseases and parasites tend not to spread quite so easily there as they do over here in the West. The conditions there are not only extremely harsh and thus weed out the weak, but such mountainous areas provide the ultimate in providing areas of isolation.

To get some appreciation of conditions in that part of the world, here's a link to a 900Mb film (which is well-worth watching it's own right) about a 13 year-old girl who wants to become an Eagle-Hunter, an activity normally reserved only for men who hunt foxes with trained Golden Eagles within the Altai mountains during winter. The scenery shown in the film of those mountains is nothing short of stunning (imo).

http://188.165.242.129/downloads/Mo...0p.mkv?st=Nk1FaLRt9-aaN_xcs4khIw&e=1601806201

There is some dialogue in English, but it's woefully inadequate to understand all that is happening, and so I'm attaching a subtitle file:
View attachment The Eagle Huntress 2016.txt
which will need to be re-named from .txt to .srt

FWIW, I use VLC to watch films - recommended.
LJ


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

Thanks, LJ.

The natural isolation, local adaptations, and absence of infection and parasite spreading migratory beekeeping - that alone should do most of the work, indeed. Beekeeping paradise at that.


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