The buzz around Tairawhiti

NAATI BEEZ PILOT PROJECT: One of the projects in the region involved Naati Beez and planting 395 native plants, donated by Lana Hope at Native Nursery. Naati Beez, a collective of beekeepers set up through Ngati Porou, are involved in the manuka honey industry. They are looking to expand the project thoughout their farms to maintain the bees for the 10 months of the year when manuka are not flowering, and to increase regional employment. Rangi Raroa, one of the directors of Naati Beez, with Angus McPherson of Trees for Bees with some of the donated plants. Picture supplied

BEES are of enormous value to the Gisborne and wider New Zealand economy.

Angus McPherson of Trees for Bees said nationwide honey exports are expected to grow from $300 million to $1.2 billion by 2025, and the value to the agricultural industry from pollination is around $5-6 billion annually.

Bees are of increasing importance to the East Coast, not only in pollinating crops like kiwifruit, but in the booming manuka honey industry.

The Trees for Bees team was recently in the region for a week to assist with three plantings: Naati Beez in Tikitiki, TW Wines just out of Gisborne, and Waioma Station, a sheep and beef farm near Rere.

Each planting has a different function, but they all have the same idea: to keep bees healthy all year, Mr McPherson said.

Willie Kaa, a director of Naati Beez and East Coast manager for honey company Comvita, said the project is part of a bigger picture to increase employment in the region.

Naati Beez, a collective of Ngati Porou Beekeepers, have been analysing what the bees were gathering for the past year by taking pollen and fresh nectar and sending it to doctors Linda Newstrom-Lloyd, Ian Raine and Xun Li at Trees for Bees.

“It is a pilot project for our farms, with the plan to roll it out to all of the farms so the bees can survive all year round,” Mr Kaa said.

Hub for manuka productionThe East Coast is a hub for manuka honey production and beekeepers from around the country come in for the manuka flowering, for two months of the year.

He said 20,000 hives come into area during that period, but leave straight afterwards.

“We want to keep them here all year around, then we can employ local people to look after them, and get more locals into this sustainable industry.”

They are building a flowering calendar, so for the 10 months when the manuka is not flowering, the bees can be feeding on other native plants instead of sugar and protein patties.

Mr Kaa says they are very grateful to Lana Hope of the Native Garden Nursery in Gisborne, who donated 395 native plants for the Tikitiki planting.

At TW Wines the bees have been performing quite a different function. Grapes are self-pollinating, yet when co-owner Paul Tietjen decided he wanted to plant a range of trees, Mr Foster, who keeps bees on the property, recommended he plant with bees in mind.

They picked a range of bee-friendly trees that will allow the bees to feed year-round.

Mr Tietjen has also found the bees clean out grapes that have had their skin punctured by birds, and prevent the acetic acid they produce from getting into the wine.