It gives me great pleasure to present my report for the 2009/10 year. I, on behalf of SABIO, extend a warm welcome to all members here. A similar warm welcome is extended to guests and visitors. We hope that this will be a useful meeting; that the workshop and talks will stimulate discussion and increased knowledge about bee diseases.

 SABIO Chairman’s Report for the AGM 10 April 2010 203.44 Kb 

I quote from my comment in the last Bee Journal:
“Where to from here? How do we overcome the ‘toxic mix’?

I was extremely heartened by the meetings in Pretoria in January. There was a definite commitment from government to listen to us expressing a willingness to respond to our needs. We as an organisation must develop this and grow in order to give our industry an opportunity to ‘lift- off’ and fly. The NAMC report has finally been signed by the minister and we need to recall those who contributed to it so that we can workshop a way forward. Issues of finance, a Beekeeping Act and the other recommendations, together with comments from the Minister need to be blended together so that we can become the industry we have so long striven to be – responsible for so much more than just our own short term interests - serving the interests of the amazing insects we work with, agriculture in general and being a proud role player in our fascinating and vital industry. May 2010 finally turn challenges into achievements. Let’s turn the toxic mix into something special to all of us.

The Bee Industry this year has been dominated by the discovery of AFB in South Africa. It involved effort from the ARC, DAFF and SABIO in order to try and control and manage the disease. We are still short of test results and waiting to see how our bees respond to the bacillus in the longer term. AFB was an unexpected shock and the result has been numerous meetings, drafting and re-drafting of regulations and the realization that our industry and government were and still remain challenged by the threat of this disease and how best to cope with it. The weaknesses in our industry predicted by the NAMC Report and the survey of the industry done by the UCT School of Economics in 2008 have been more than realized and this makes it imperative that we return to these assessments of the industry and implement suggested changes concentrating on the priorities the we see fit to implement. We need to change weaknesses into strengths so that the desired objectives become a reality. Good progress was made in 2008 at the Beecon and Dr Conradie’s survey and suggestions will be invaluable in our future implementation of the NAMC recommendations. I shall return to this vital issue later in my report with a brief PowerPoint presentation.

Before proceeding, I need to say farewell to “Oupahansie”. Hans has been involved with SABIO since its inception in 1994. He has always endeavored to ‘keep the ship afloat’ and been loyal to the interests of the industry during his long term of office. He tended his resignation to expire on the 9 April but I am sure that he will be here to support the day and learn more about AFB. He did agree to edit the second journal this year so will need to report on the day’s proceedings in that issue anyway. Thank you Hans for always being willing to serve and in spite of differences and clashes we have always been able to be honest with each other and settle things amicably. I am sure that we will not lose contact in future and Hans will follow SABIO’s growth with interest.

Just as we say goodbye to Hans we welcome Jan Barnard who will be manning the office at Rietondale in future. Jan has plenty of experience in training, has worked for Tshwane Municipality and run his own business. We have agreed that he may continue lecturing part time on condition that we have notice of this and members are able to leave messages if he is out of office. We look forward to a long and happy association.

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Ursula has also put in sterling work for SABIO. She has been a n invaluable addition to the management team but now needs more time off to devote to her studies. She will continue until the end of May and then Jan will be by himself.

While dealing with people who have contributed to the running of SABIO I must thank fellow Board members for their support. A special thank you goes to Eddy and Theunis who have given unstintingly of their time when called upon to do so. There have been many more meetings this year than normal because of the AFB outbreak and whenever I have asked for their support it has been given without question. A sincere thank you. At times it feels as if we are on a treadmill but it is occasions such as this when we are forced to take stock that we realize that we are making progress albeit slower than we would often like to admit.

The important decision regarding registration of beekeepers will need to be decided at this meeting. JanHendrik has agreed to delay the submission of the draft regulations until the 16 April so we still have time to make an informed decision. I have all along said that disease control was essentially the responsibility of government but we were appointed the authority and have built up momentum in this regard which would be a pity to lose. We will anyway have to continue with the registration process if we pick up on our mandate to introduce statutory levies as this will be an integral part of the levy process. I shall say more about that in a minute but let us consider the problem for a minute.

Registration for disease control can never be a basis for membership of SABIO membership. SABIO needs to offer its members a service and represent the industry nationally. My concern is that we are at present doing the registration; the problem is that existing regulations only provides for a one off registration, which makes the registration data difficult to manage and keep up to date. The legal penalties for not registering are non-existent at present which makes deviance difficult to correct. If the government takes over this function then certain issues need to be agreed upon such as what happens to existing numbers? Who will inspect and enforce registration? What happens to those who fail to register? Are funds available to man an office and provide inspectors to check on beekeepers throughout country? What will this registration process cost? The bottom line is that we need to have a complete and up to date register of beekeepers and if this is necessary for disease control then what is the best way to achieve this Govt or SABIO?

Bee diseases kept us fully occupied this year. The NAMC Section 7 analysis, which we debated with the permission of the NAMC, but without the signed consent of the Minister has now been signed and the NAMC has shown a willingness to support us in implementing the recommendations of the report. We are delighted about this and plan a workshop involving all interested stakeholders to refine and prioritize the recommendations to set the process in motion of implementing suggested improvements. This is no easy task and will require the support of all role-players in the industry. I shall now outline some of the developments which have already been discussed. I have on many an occasion referred to the colourful and fascinating individuality of beekeepers in general. This however does not make it easy to implement any general scheme for a national strategy for our industry. This problem in not confined to our country and is a world wide tendency in the beekeeping fraternity. We fiercely cling to the belief that to serve our precious bees best we need to maintain our independence and individuality. Any national strategy needs to acknowledge this, but if we are to protect and serve the interest of our members, our bees and be a meaningful pressure group able to serve these interests then we have to find common ground in order to lobby effectively to protect our interests. We are a small group but the role we play in agriculture and the environment means that we have a responsibility to the “greater good”.

I do not believe that the question,” Where to from here?” can be answered without a serious study of the NAMC document. Progress was made discussing the report in 2008 and I shall I shall try to sum this up and then offer suggestions as to how to move the industry to the ‘next level’.

 SABIO Chairman’s Report for the AGM 10 April 2010 203.44 Kb