Raising Bees in Asia

Raising Bees in AsiaIn certain parts of Asia, there have been important and ongoing efforts to raisethe living standards of residents. Honeybees have a role to play in sustainableagricultural development. [▇] They can be utilized with minimal investment, donot require land ownership, and provide non-perishable products of higheconomic and food value. [▇] In addition, keeping bees enhances cropproduction by providing incidental pollination services, and can help replacewild pollinators in compromised ecosystems. [▇] Beekeeping can have a rolein building families and communities. It has been promoted as a means ofenhancing the status of women by providing them with an independent incomestream. [▇] Bees can be kept in the home garden on a part-time basis and thisdoes not interfere with other income-producing or family activities.The word “promoted” in the passage is closest in meaning toA.relied onB.practicedC.consideredD.encouragedWhich of the following is NOT mentioned in paragraph 1 as one of theadvantages of beekeeping?A.It can increase plant pollination by making up for low levels of wildpollinators.B.It can be used to control agricultural pests inexpensively.C.It can be combined easily with other ongoing domestic activities.D.It makes available valuable food products that are economicallyprofitable.According to paragraph 1, beekeeping offers which of the following socialadvantages?A.It makes land ownership easier.B.It allows new families to enter already established communities.C.It provides an alternative to more physically demanding types of work.D.It improves the condition of women by enabling them to earn theirown money.Look at the four squares [▇] that indicate where the following sentence couldbe added to the passage. Where would the sentence best fit?However, the advantages of keeping bees are not limited to agriculturaldevelopment.There is considerable discussion on how best to encourage the developmentof beekeeping. Central to this debate is whether beginning beekeepers shouldbe encouraged to use the indigenous bee species A. cerana or the non-nativebee species A. mellifera. There is not argument that, in comparativeside-by-side trials, the A. mellifera bee species is 2 – 10 times more productivethan the A. cerana bee species (reviewed in a study by Verma, 1991), anoutcome that led Verma to comment humorously that the A. melliferabeekeeper drives an important truck while the A. cerana beekeeper still rides abicycle. Furthermore, cash-flow analyses show that across a number ofcountries, under a variety of assumptions, A. mellifera beekeeping alwaysprovides superior returns (profits) in the long run. Nevertheless, under somecircumstance A. cerana may be the better choice for farmers with limitedeconomic means because the start-up and maintenance costs are minimal. A.millifera is seriously affected by the mite pests Varroa destr...