Native Bees Plan: Meliponiculture and conservation.

Meliponiculture is an activity that seeks the correct management of meliponas bees, the same as a sustainable alternative for sustainable agriculture and diversification of production in rural areas. 

Meliponario Nativa (MN) and Meliponiculture

1. This proposal is made in order to support the isolated efforts being made in the country with regard to the management and conservation of native bees. This activity is an excellent alternative for diversification and better use of natural resources, without polluting the environment and encouraging agro-tourism. 

The Melipónidos, a species of stingless bees native to Ecuador, are one of the many species at risk from pollution, development, and other environmental factors. Important to the pollination of Ecuador’s native flora, the Melipónidos are in need of critical protection and conservation efforts.

2. MN is an educational tourist center, where not only workshops, trainings and visits are given but products from the hive are harvested for sale. 

Knowledge processes:

• Execute methods of spreading hives = many bees as possible with production potentials.
• Implement new harvesting methods. 
• Make a diagnosis of plants with productive potential for implementation
  of native bees.

3. Meliponicultura was one of the main productive activities in Mesoamerica. The technology that has been used so far is traditional, ancestral and natural. MN seeks a technification of knowledge, which has been achieved through studies and the presence in congresses in various parts of Latin America.

1. The aim is to reduce the negative impact caused by people, who reduce the populations of native bees when extracting honey.

2. Considering that the majority of producers and consumers are in the disinformation and with a feeling of conformity (value of native bees, their activity and products), it can be said that the scale remains high.

3. Producers in rural areas manage these types of bees with many limitations which causes bees to die. All people who grow coffee (south of Ecuador), have native bee nests this as a result of the cultural heritage of the country. So the lack of technification affects an estimated population of 5000 rural producers.

4. It is necessary to point out that there are factors that contribute to the decrease of these populations: deforestation, increase of the agricultural border, livestock, and Apis mellifera.

5. Consequences:

• Native bees are endangered.
• Loss of native wildlife.
• Water sources can be lost.
• If the production is not fully valued. 
  • Producers have access to ancestral medicine but will not use it.
  • Sale of products at low prices creates a chain of inequality.
• The ancestral and cultural value is lost. 

6. According to traditional information, 40-50 years ago the bee population was greater - today area of native forests and therefore population of native bees have decreased. The lack of interest of the entities in charge does not allow the total loss of insect populations and their productive consequences to be quantified in a real way.

1. The solution lies in the conservation of native biodiversity, the quality of life of people, and the amplification of benefits to rural producers.

2. Producers we can say that:

• They will obtain high quality beehive products that would improve the economic income. 
• The yield of crops will be increased due to the intervention of native bees. 
• Live gene banks of bees shall be ensured.
• The hive products are characterized by possessing unique qualities, which are used by producers to alleviate different types of ailments and diseases. Guarantees greater health and better quality of life.

3. The main characteristics of producers in the southern region are:

• People who mostly belong to the elderly. 
• They have limited economic resources.
• Rural populations are not properly served by the ministries responsible for production. 
• The lack of organization limits the development, they are susceptible to being manipulated by intermediaries (sale of the products of the hive). 
• They have limitations when it comes to receiving agricultural credits.

4. Young people, knowing the economic value of the products of the hive, are motivated to protect and care for native species (bees and plants).

• The sale of hive products at real price will improve the income in their production units.
• Training will develop competitiveness skills and assertiveness in the face of marketing injustices. The producer will be confident when selling his harvest at real price to intermediaries.
• With the possibility of improving their income, producers will be able to present themselves with insurance when attending financial aid.

1. Surveys and diagnoses have been carried out, on average, rural producers have 3 to 4 nests of native bees in rustic or non-technified boxes. With honey yields ranging between 2 liters, when they can reach double production (in a technified way). Taking into account even that the sales are given at very low prices due to the lack of trainings, which are carried out in MN. 
In 2021 (with the health crisis) a total of 11 trainings were given in the province of El Oro and Loja, and in Napo (northern zone of the Ecuadorian Amazon), benefiting a total of 200 producers.

2 and 3. Yes, we have researched and worked with potential users and non-governmental organizations such as Naturaleza y Cultura and the Mancomunidad de las Meliponas (located in the province of Loja) which acts as an organization of meliponicultores (producers who care for and harvest native bees) in the southern part.

4. Both organizations have been linked in the design and development of the solution because they are working for the same cause. 
In addition, we have worked with the autonomous governments of 4 parishes and 2 municipalities (an entity that groups many parishes), to link the workshops and training as a strong base of rural production in the country.

Since 2013, approximately 100 workshops have been held. Where in only 23 of them, a total of 355 farmers who have bees and 12 producer organizations have benefited, adding that 2 investment plans were achieved with a total amount of 25,000 USD.

The first credit for Meliponicultura was made in Ecuador with the help of the National Development Bank (BanEcuador). 

Invitations have been received from countries such as Peru and Mexico to participate in trainings and congresses. 

In 2021 it was possible to develop "first promotional video" of the Meliponario in coordination with the Municipality of Piñas – El Oro. 

First manual is being prepared (coordination Naturaleza y Cultura). 

It has been possible to include Meliponiculture as an additional activity to improve incomes in productive units. 

First Meliponario in the country, in which training and exchanges of experiences with producers (leaving aside - extractivist value). 

Developing an inclusive business model (Meliponiculture is an activity that can be carried out by people with special abilities, pregnant women, children, elderly people), sustainable and sustainable for the environment.

Communities - worked: El Oro, approximately 50 communities. Loja, 5 communities, and in the provinces of Zamora, Napo and Manabi. Tumbes, Department of Amazonas (Peru). 

The main technology that manages the solution is Meliponiculture, study of the breeding and management of native bees, no sting (Meliponids). 

In southern region of Ecuador there are 89 species of native bees which pollinate all native plants and commercial interest (forest plants and different types of crops), the genera of native bees that are most used to obtain products from the hive are: Melipona, Scaptrigone, Nanotrigone and Paratrigones.

Term "Meliponiculture" was first used by Nogueira-Neto (1953). Main characteristics (native bees): 

• Underdeveloped sting
• Harmless behavior
• Honey has a better acceptance (than Apis mellifera) 
  • Economic value of 4 to 7 times higher.

This activity has been developed since before the Spanish conquest and in fact had its heyday in Mesoamerica (Mayans). Just as agriculture is an activity that must be cared for and technified through the generation of new technologies to reduce the death of insects (before, during and after harvest of the products of the hive).

Through the workshops and trainings are promoted: 

• Use of technified boxes and recyclable traps
• Propagation methods (of existing nests in captivity, for the protection of nests in natural state and the genetic bank of living species)
• Identification of native plants (reforest, protect water sources, feed native bee species). 

All this leads to improving producers incomes by obtaining high-quality beehive products.

MN is the first Conservation Meliponario of Ecuador, since the importance of biodiversity is valued considering bees as main actors, but also highlighting the cultural and ancestral importance that producers give to it.

In 2021, some 300 people were served in the provinces of El Oro and Loja and in the province of Napo (Pastaza) 50 people (this number includes women and men between 7 and 80 years of age).

Currently, in 2022 it is planned to serve about 600 meliponicultores throughout the country.

For the month of January there is a training in the province of Zamora Chinchipe, where it is planned to train and share experiences with about 70 people.

The main objective of impact that is planned to be achieved, is that people become aware that with a correct management of native bees, indirectly, they will generate products from the hive necessary and indispensable to preserve their health.

For 2022

1. Expand the Meliponiculture network in different provinces of the country.

• Making strategic alliances with NGOs and producer organizations (which should not necessarily be meliponicultores)

2. Achieve the implementation of more Conservation Meliponarios.

• Raising awareness among producers through workshops and training on bee care. 
• Sponsor with the mark 12 existing Conservation Meliponarios in the province of El Oro), 30 in Loja, 1 in Zamora.
•  Creation of Meliponario de Conservación in the Province of Loja for the protection of the bee of the tropical dry forest Melipona mimetica.

3.  Disseminate knowledge of the differences and characteristics of the different types of bee species and their products, to rescue and highlight their medicinal and economic value.

• Specify the launch of a practical manual of Native Meliponario aimed at producers. Articulation and support of the Municipality of Pinas (El Oro) and Nature and Culture. 

4. Enhance the brand.

• Meliponario Nativa will be articulated with the Mancomunidad de Meliponas, Naturaleza y Cultura: "Second Binational Meeting of Meliponicultores Ecuador - Peru" that will take place in November 2022.
• Creation of an export network with the support of producers.

The indicators that have been taken into account for impact activities are::

Number of hives in captivity
- Bees are in positive or negative captivity (Meliponicultors are estractivists or protectors).

Number of reforested areas and protected water sources
- Bees have a space to pollinate
- This space is a native forest areas
- This space is not contaminated with pesticides
- Water sources are being protected

Producers and Meliponiculture
- There is gender equity in meliponiculture activities
- People with different abilities are taken into account
- Producers understand the value of meliponiculture and its main entities (native stingless bees).
- The producers have lost a nest of bees.

Production of Meliponicultores
- The implementation of technified boxes has made the extract of meliponicultor is 4 liters per hive
- The economy of the production units of each meliponicultor has increased.
- Producers take into account technical indications of how honey and other hive products should be harvested, packaged and distributed.

The main limitation to objectifying the goals of this year is the economic barrier, since in the absence of constant financing or large capital, activities are often delayed or tend to fall behind. This does not mean that the solution can not be maintained, but rather, it is not fulfilled in the established times which causes that the strengthening of the solution is limited.

Legal, cultural and market barriers add up to determine a negative position when talking about an export chain.

• Legal: It is necessary to comply with parameters established by the Ecuadorian law for the sale of the products of the hive. (Additional funding needed).
• Cultural: Many of the producers are usually resistant to the idea of technifying or improving the way they handle Meliponiculture and how their crops are sold.
• Market: The export market is a very big step, and although it is not impossible, it deserves great attention.
  • Since native bees are not yet taken as important, their products are still sold at low prices, which cause chains of inequality between sellers and buyers (nationally). 

Founder of the MN. Silvio Loayza (helped by Fatima Solórzano) 

It is the basis of all the knowledge of the team 
Specialized in native bees since college. He represents MN at international conferences and workshops.  In the province of Loja-Puyango, native bees are considered a Biological and Cultural Heritage of Ecuador thanks to the Commonwealth of Meliponas that learned from him and his lifelong hobby.

Team Leader. Joel Loayza
Joel explains what meliponini are and why they are so important for ecosystems and communities when tourists and students visit MN or at exhibitions and fairs (from - 9 years). 

He taught tourists, teachers, students of schools, institutes, universities, even authorities like the minister of agriculture. In 2020, while Silvio was being instructed to talk to the Minister of Agriculture, Joel had already been talking to the Minister for almost 15 minutes about Meliponini. This shows how well Joel knows about stingless bees. He has taught many people of different ages, nationalities and professions about these wonderful bees.

Demonstrated that children can also participate in meliponiculture. In 2021, he received a certificate from the Ministry of Agriculture on behalf of MN.

Coteam leader
For Silvia this journey of knowledge has marked her life, (inheritance from father to children). When he was 6 years old, he drew the first Meliponario that was used for the first research. At the age of 9, he explained to his classmates the existence of these bees. In high school, he conducted research that attempted to test Roch Domerego's hypothesis about the relationship between the child bee Melipona beecheii and the architectural structure of the Maya. And by 2020 I was actively participating with MN. He has participated in competitions to share the solution, in November 2021 he became a finalist of the "GEEP Youth Innovation Challenge".

We are currently working with two organizations in full.

1. Nature and Culture International (NCI) strives to preserve in the long term the natural diversity of ecosystems and associated cultural wealth, which in many cases are strongly threatened in Latin America.

The alliance has served for the creation of informative material and the dissemination of the solution of Meliponario Nativa.

2. Mancomunidad de las Meliponas
Workshops have been held in the communities of Ciano, El Arenal and Vicentino.
The alliance has served to contribute better to producers in the province of Loja, but they have also achieved common objectives such as the creation of a single distribution network to promote the passage to the export of native bee honey without sting.

Work is also being done with governmental organizations.

Meliponiculture has long been developed by Mayan cultures in Mexico, who cared for and venerated bees as goddesses and themselves who were called "honey ladies". This activity can be developed by women of all ages and economic levels, inclusion promotes greater opportunities in the productive units of producer families. Meliponario Nativa has Silvia (19 years) as a leader in the information of inclusion and how this potentially benefits the solution. For the more agents of change, the more changes.