The Saddest Day for the Bilut Valley Beekeepers

It's been ten years since our last post on this blog - years that passed by so quickly but definitely without stories and drama. A decade of ups and downs, and of survival. 

One of the main reasons for this is a rather morbid experience that we had to go through as beekeepers. It's still difficult for us to recount this incident here but we hope that this story will be beneficial for others. 

 2016 - the year we posted our last entry, was the year we faced a truly harrowing experience. Even as this is being written, the pain and torment is still tearing at our hearts.

The two years before, we were working very hard to obtain 150 colonies of kelulut on the farm. In 2016 we were so close to reaching our target. Then tragedy struck. 

"The 2016 El Niño was one of the most severe weather phenomena on record in Malaysia, bringing extreme heatwaves, drought, and severe socioeconomic disruptions across the country" reported Al-Jazeera.

The El Niño had weakened the bees and their defenses, severely jeopardising the security and sanctuary of their hives. We, and many other kelulut beekeepers nationwide were taken by surprise by an invasion of the most feared pests of kelulut - black soldier flies (Hermetia illucens). The female flies found their way into the toppings and laid their eggs amongst the honey pots. Once this happened, the bees absconded to find another home.

An adult black soldier fly. It is easily identified by 

it's legs with white ends which make them look like they 

wear white boots.

Over the next few months, we had lost more than 100 hives. It was devastating to say the least. We struggled, physically, mentally, financially and most of all...emotionally. The thought of the bees having to find a new home to make their nests and having to leave their brood behind was unbearable. We reckon more than half the colonies could not survive the trauma of being forced to leave their nests and the journey to rehome.

We were also told to quickly destroy the affected hives to contain the proliferation of flies - by burning their log nests and toppings. This was done with such heavy hearts as we knew the young brood and eggs were still in the nests, plus guardian bees who were protecting them.

Aiman cutting down the log hives that house their nests. These 

were later burned to exterminate the eggs and larvae of the flies.

It was one of the saddest moments of our lives.

 

But we didn't falter, we didn't backdown or give up. We trudged on with whatever resources and colonies we had left. And today, the Bilut Valley Bee Farm brand still stands, and very soon, we will be upscaling our brand and our products, by Allah's will.

We are very certain that every beekeeper has a story to tell, and this is ours.

Ramadhan in Retrospect

On this date, 8 July in 2014, the 10th day of Ramadhan, we had obtained our very first twenty colonies of Heterotrigona itama stingless bees (meliponines). On 26 June 2016, the 21st day of Ramadhan, we lost the same number to the most feared pest of stingless bees.

From the first twenty colonies, we had gradually increased the number to one hundred and thirty over the next two years. It wasn't easy as we had to plant a lot of flowers and trees as the farm is located amongst palm oil plantations which do not provide a source of nectar, resin, pollen and other elements needed to sustain the bees.

 Cultured stingless bees in the country, mainly in the northern and east coast states of peninsula Malaysia were invaded by two different kinds of pests simultaneously: the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) and the sap beetle (Haptoncus luteolus). Some farms had lost hundreds of logs. Bilut Valley Bee Farm was not spared by this ravaging infestation that we believe, was an after effect of the El Nino phenomenon. Not as many as others but a great loss to us, nevertheless.

The situation was reported by Sinar Harian following an interview with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shamsul Bahri Abd Razak from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. Read the report here.

All I could do was watch, mostly Aiman's
hard work on the toppings, go to ash

We were devastated but we had to make a fast decision to cut losses to the minimum and contain the infestation as quickly as possible. The meliponines had already absconded and had left their larvae infested hives. We had been advised by experts to burn these logs pronto.

I was so proud of Marzia;
despite the pressing situation, she had the foresight
to collect a sample of the honey from the
infected logs that could be used for analysis.

Although the logs were empty, my heart ached and tears fell uncontrollably seeing the logs being carried away. They once housed our beloved bees which were thriving well,  producing a good amount of honey and given me so much joy. It was most unbearable wondering if they had found suitable trees in which they would build their new hives. Thankfully, Aiman, Marzia and my future son-in-law Faisal who happened to be visiting, were there to provide support. They had done the job of disposing the logs very quickly and efficiently.

I had insisted Aiman saw the logs before
burning to ensure no bees, especially
a queen bee was left behind.

The casualties.

Firdaus - Dr. Shamsul's trusted and
able research assistant.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shamsul
is possibly the only academician in
the whole country who took the initiative
to gather samples from infested hives to 
identify the pests, find out the cause and
also seek ways to eradicate the infestation.

During this time, I was also in touch with my husband, my partners and a WhatsApp chat group comprising researchers from University Malaysia Terengganu, officers from the Perak Agriculture Department and fellow beekeepers. They all had driven me to do whatever that was necessary and had provided much needed consolation in facing a sudden loss of thousands of my precious bees.


Thanks to each and everyone of them, I rebounded rather quickly from the calamity. There was a point when I had started to think if I had made the right decision going into meliponiculture. But I spotted a request to visit the farm by a friend of Aiman on our Facebook wall. This stopped me from thinking that way, and I knew it was a Sign from the Divine. Nik Saufi had visited the farm twice before, and this would be his third visit...because he simply loved it there. And so did many others. So many love the honey, too. I couldn't disappoint them all.

Najib - an extreme enthusiast of meliponines
appointed by UMT to be a part of their research
team.

"Verily, along every hardship is a relief."
"Verily, along every hardship is relief."
I had just only been enlightened about these ayah belonging to Surah Insyiroh a few days before the incident. It had always been simply translated to me that relief came with hardship. But it had not been highlighted that lots of blessings come down within and during the hardship. I now bear witness to that; I was put in a vulnerable position but I am blessed with so many things and people, family who give love and support, and friends who gave a splendid show of camaraderie and esprit-de-corps.

The Rahmah (compassion) and blessings from Allah surpasses, reigns over everything.
This was my Ramadhan, one that was overflowing with blessings as had been promised by Allah swt, and one that I would not forget for I guess, a very long, long time.



Written by Aniza Zain Ahmed for my family members namely my beloved husband Ahmad Cendana who remained so cool while giving very rational advice which immediately gave me immense strength while I was shaken and frantic. My children Aiman Mazlan and Marzia Mazlan who were calm, collected and so professional and took over handling the situation when their mom was distraught, my sisters Datin Aimi Zain Ahmed and Fauziah Shariff who stood solidly by us.

 Also for the Kelulut Warriors Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shamsul Bahri Abdul Razak, Mohammad Firdaus bin Sulaiman, "Supermokh" Mokhtar Ishak, Hj. Mohd Najib Rais Hj Mohd Noordin (UMT Kelulut researchers), Puan Nur Hafizah Sharudin, Puan Hazrina Rashid (Perak DOA), veteren stingless beekeeper Tuan Rosman Mohd Isa, Mat Khairil Matkentoi and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nurazura Adam (UPM).
 

Puan Nur Hafizah, left, and Puan Hazrina.
Don't be fooled by their demure looks, these are hardworking, dedicated
and courageous women serving the country and it's people.
Hafizah did not hesistate even for a second in volunteering to join a
response team which Dr. Shamsul initiated to visit affected farms in Kedah.
Within a very short time, she had managed to gather officials from
DOA Penang and Kedah which included a Deputy Director and led the team
to investigate massive infestation in the beefarms.. 

Matkentoi, a man of a man of all trades. He had joined the
response team on his own accord.

Rosman Mohd Isa runs and manages the biggest
stingless bee farm in Malaysia, located in Merbok. Kedah. He was the very first to highlight problems faced by
beekeepers in Kedah. He, together with Haji Najib, had made
an ad hoc visit to the affected farm and confirmed the presence
of larvae in the hives. This was followed by the formimg
of Kelulut Quick Response Team in which the duo made a second trip to the said farms. .
i was awed by the dedication of my associates, and the speed at responding
to calls for help with regards to stingless bees.
He, and the rest of the team, are warriors in the true sense of its word.

 .   
 

Beescape - The Must-Have Knowledge For All Meliponiculturists

Beescape is the most crucial aspect of meliponiculture yet it is almost always overlooked by stingless bee enthusiasts, hobbyists and meliponiculturists even. The sustainability of stingless bee colonies depends largely on the beescape yet the subject is often ignored or not taken seriously enough.

Many meliponiculturists focus on honey production and ultimately the income from the sales of honey. The meliponines are usually placed in an area where source of nectar is available, but more often than not, it is far from sufficient in the long term. Many have experienced that in just over a year or two, honey production and even worse, the population of bees start to dwindle, and in the end, the whole colony collapses or absconds.

Stingless bees are considered as generalists; they forage on a wide variety of flowers. From a medicinal and nutritional point of view, the wider the variety of nectar available for foraging, the higher the value of the honey. Besides nectar, meliponines also need resin to produce propolis, of which their pots to retain and store their honey are made of. Then there are other elements to be considered such as pollen, water, minerals and floral oils that are required by each colony to make up their whole system.

As meliponiculturists, we are responsible in ensuring that our meliponines have more than enough resources for all these elements. But knowlege and information on all these is scarce. Meliponiculture and the studies on stingless bees in Malaysia is recent and rather limited. Many meliponiculturists depend on trial and error methods and results may be positive or disastrous. But as the population of stingless bee is fast reducing, we cannot afford to be dependant on mere experience and methods that are not tried and tested.

Bilut Valley Bee Farm had acquired some knowledge on beescaping and the positive effects from the implementation of what had been learnt was evident within a couple of months. The evidence is in the yield and more importantly, the population and the vibrant activity of bees on the farm. We were also delighted to have spotted a species different from the ones we culture, signifying that the farm is conducive enough to attract other colonies to breed there.

Pests and predators is also a topic in beescape which should be taken very seriousl. If meliponiculturists aren't familiar or are oblivious to them, it could be disastrous as an invasion could wipeout a colony in just a matter of 24 hours.





   

Pitstop Bilut Valley Bee Farm - Impromptu Visit by UMT Research Team.

When enthusiasts of meliponines meet, there is no saying what could happen. We were in the last leg of the Le Tour De Kelulut - Jelajah Selatan when the idea of shooting to Bilut Valley cropped up. We had travelled through the states of Negeri Sembilan, Melaka down to Masai, the most southern tip of the peninsula in Johor. Then up north again towards Mersing, Kluang, Segamat and back into Negeri Sembilan via Bahau.

Travelling with us in that tour was a team from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and they were to break off from the convoy in Bahau as it was the nearest exit back to Marang where the university is situated. They had expressed interest in visiting our farm, especially because we had on our farm a rather rare species known as Heterotrigona erythrogastra. As Bilut Valley Bee Farm totally and wholeheartedly supports scientific research, we didn't hesitate in deciding to divert to Bilut Valley to take the UMT team to our farm.

5th of May, Tuesday was to be the last day of the Southern Route of the tour, We were in Segamat, Johor that morning and had moved to Bahau, Negeri Sembilan where we visited a farm and enjoyed a sumptuous lunch prepared by our gracious host, Puan Ehwani.. We eventually left Bahau after 4pm, It is a 3-hour drive to Bilut Valley and that would mean we would have to drive non-stop to arrive while there is still some daylight left. The UMT Team weren't the least deterred.

Dusk was setting when we arrived Raub and our visitors noticed how beautiful the scenery was at that time of the day. We stopped at our halfway house in the village of Bilut Valley and performed the compulsory evening prayers before the research assistants quickly got into action. Two of them, Muhammad Firdaus and Fatin Farhana stayed back at the house as that was where we kept our Tetrigona or crystal species. They were to take specimens from the five colonies we had there including one of the extremely aggressive T.canifrons species.

The head of the team, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shamsul Bahri Abdul Razak and another two of his assistants Roziah Ghazi and Siti Asma' headed for the farm where the most of the meliponines are cultured. It was already dark by then, but it didn't stop them from going up to the farm which has no electricity. We had the highest respect for them all - their commitment and dedication towards their jobs and achieving their objectives really had us in awe. The situation was the same amongst the participants of the tour which was headed by Tuan Abu Hassan Jalil in the last four days. We felt so honoured to be working with the individuals and teams of this calibre.

Pix above, Prof. Shamsul and team inspecting a hive where a colony of apis (honey bees)
had invaded a stingless bee colony, and then was joined by another smaller but feisty species 
of stingless bees. They now co-habit in different spaces of the same log.

Once at the farm, they headed straight for the H. erythrogastra colony. They seemed to be delighted to have finally obtained specimens and pictures of this species. And we were more than happy to oblige. Prof. Shamsul was also interested to take a look at our colony of T. melanoleuca which is not that rare but researchers are interested to look into possible variants in specimens from different locations in the country.

We found it amazing that all the three of them, Prof . Shamsul, Roziah and Asma, had felt the ambiance at the farm even in the darkness. All they could see was the silhouette of the hills in the distant horizon, when there was just a hint of daylight left that painted the sky in many different lovely hues of orange, red and blue. They knew it was a beautiful place. And they vowed to come again.

The UMT Research Team with the Bilut Valley Bee Farm Team
From left Aiman, Firdaus, Prof. Shamsul. Marzia, Aniza, Asma, Fauziah, Fatin and Roziah.
It was a long day and we were still not quite done. The UMT Team were headed back to
Terengganu that night which is another 4 hours drive. But our smiles say it all, it was
a wonderful occasion for both our teams,and a beginning of many good things to come, insya Allah.  

  

The video above was produced by none other than Prof. Dr. Shamsul Bahri himself. 

Meliponines by Gee Shariff - Lepidotrigona doipaensis

A showcase of superb macro shots by Bilut Valley Bee Farm's macro photographer Gee Shariff.

Featured here is a species from the genus Lepidotrigona of which name is derived from the word "lepido" which means "scales". Species in this genus have very significant scales in yellow or white that frame the scutum of the meliponine. The species here is named doipaensis.

Meliponines - Saving Stingless Bees

Most people are familiar with the honey bee, known to produce delicious honey, but feared because of their stingers. These are actually called apis which literally means bees in Latin. However, little is known about the stingless bees, which are endemic to tropical countries like Malasyia. They come from the same family as the apis bees, which is the Apidae family. Besides their appearance and their hives, apis and stingless bees, or meliponines as they are known, are very similar in behavior. Meliponines forage on plant nectar and produce honey too. But as their name indicates, stingless bees do not sting, but will bite if not treated or handled properly.

This very informative book is available online on Amazon
in paperback version. E-book version is also available.

There are more than 500 species of meliponines through out the world mainly in tropical countries, of which more than 50 are found in Malaysia. There may be more, as many species have yet to be identified. Records, documents and research on meliponines are dated only from the turn of the 19th century, much later than the apis bees, thus there is still much uncertainty with regards to actual numbers.

Professor Mappataba - picture taken in 2010
during a course on beekeeping conducted by the
National Apiary Centre in Air Itam, Johor.

At this time of writing, the most common species cultured are the H.itama and G. thoracica species as these are the most commercially viable for honey production. As mentioned earlier, meliponiculture is still very new in Malaysia especially, having been introduced by Professor Mappataba from Indonesia only five years ago. It is hoped that with research and development, we are able to culture more species for this purpose.


In Malaysia, it can be said that Tuan Abu Hassan Jalil is the expert in meliponines and meliponiculture. A horticulturist by profession, he became passionate about meliponines and is dedicating much of his time, energy and resources towards the conservation of these bees. He is now a prime point of reference not only to researchers and beekeepers locally but also worldwide. He and his partner, Dr. Ibrahim Shuib have done intensive and extensive research and together they have written a book titled Beescape for Meliponines - Conservation of Indo-Malayan Stingless Bees published by Partridge Publishing.


As jungles and forests are being cleared for development and planting of palm oil trees, many colonies are are being forced out of their habitats and even worse, destroyed as logs hosting the bee hives are burnt. There are those who purposely cut down trees from forests to take the hives, usually selling them off at prices that are steadily escalating as the demand gets higher. If this goes on without any control, the number of stingless bee colonies will dwindle in no time.

While Bilut Valley Bee Farm is culturing bees for their honey, we are also very concerned about their preservation and support in all conservation efforts. Stingless bees play a major role in pollination and the eco system as a whole. We are, in reality, so dependant on them that without them, our food source will be wiped out.