The Beekeeping Consortium of Chile has developed food formulas for bees to raise their energy and protein levels, through a project financed by the country's Agricultural Innovation Foundation (FIA).

Consortium manager Paulina Cáceres told www.freshfruitportal.com that in addition to raising bee productivity, these formulas also guaranteed the safety of hives and honey, and were free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

"It is necessary to incorporate technology to deliver efficient nutrition. This happens through new varieties, genetics, fertilizers, concentrates, etcetera - everything that is associated with competitive light production," she said.

"In the case of beekeeping, bees feed on nectar and pollen but this implies subsistence. If we want competitive apicultural production we have to incorporate technology and this is the type of development that BeeFood represents.

" [It is] food that is specifically developed to nourish bees well and give them what they require in periods when it is necessary to eat to increase their productivity."

BeeFood is intended for application at the start of winter and at the start of spring, as a solution to nurtitional deficits in bees that impact production.

"For a long time, above all in times of shortage, bees have been fed with a syrup of water with sugar, which isn't nutritious but something for subsistence. There are also other products in the market, but the difference is that these products were not developed specifically in agreement with the requirements of bees.

"We have two formulas - one that is energetic and one that is proteic because there are different moments for implementing them - whose ingredients are vegetable flours, minerals and vitamins mainly."

She said the product's safety and effectiveness had been shown through three years of testing.

"Good nutrition is the base for any efficient production. What we are doing with good nutrition is enabling the bees to better defend against diseases, weather adversity, and in the end be more productive - in other words, this feeding translates to a strong hive that produces more kilos of honey."

Finally, the consortium manager said the license was sold to the company Pharmagro, which will produce and sell the product throughout Chile at an affordable price for beekepers.

Cáceres said the product would be sold for CLP4,600 (US$9) plus value added tax (VAT) per kilogram (2.2 pounds).

"This is a very affordable price, especially because the kilo is divided in 10 doses of 100 grams and each dosis is applied to one hive. Now, how many times you apply a dosis is a technical issue that the beekeeper has to take on and manage better."

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