25 Feb 2014

A Go Green environmentalist, Ms Kynn Bullock, believes that the answer to Botswana being self-sufficient in food is through realising the essence of bee keeping.

Ms Bullock said in an interview that promoting the growth of indigenous plants contributes massively to the survival of the African honey bee. Besides, she said, bees help generate two-thirds of fruits and vegetables produced in the world.

The environmentalist has indigenous plants in her back yard, which are from seeds she and her father Mr Mike Bullock collected along the roads in and around Kazungula and Kasane. She said her garden’s success was due to the red-colored sand found in Kazungula, and every seed she has planted successfully grew, and of course, the presence of bees from her bee hive adds to this success.

Ms Bullock specializes in trees from the acacia family but highlights that the best for the African honey bee is the Acacia Melifera.

She said that the down side of this tree is that many animals like to eat it. Other factors that cause bee colonies to suffer are bee pirates, hive beetles, wax moth and the use of large pieces of land for a single crop that flowers for roughly two weeks, unlike if there was some variety of plants that flower at different times in the year.

She also said the government should look into the bee hive project again as she feels that the project was designed for a different species of bees.

She added that it was scientifically proven that plants pollinated by bees produced 30 per cent more yield, adding that Botswana could produce an almost pollution-free country because pollution was not a threat to Botswana.

Ms Bullock said she donated trees to Kazungula residents and encourages Batswana at large to grow at least two fruit trees in their back yards to help increase the number of bee colonies in the country and most definitely in the world, which will mean more plants or crops will grow. ENDS