Collection of local knowledge on stingless bees from populations living along the Complexe Po-Nazinga-Sissili corridor n°1 in south-central Burkina Faso

Abstract

Melipones are stingless social bees bred for humans' nutritional and medicinal needs. Exploited for years in Burkina Faso mainly for their honey through predation, stingless bees are not yet valued due to a lack of knowledge and technical skills. This study aims to highlight the local knowledge of local populations in corridor n°1 of the Po-Nazinga-Sissili Complex on techniques for identifying wild melipone nests. During the data collection process, semi-structured individual interviews and unstructured observations were conducted in six riverine villages. Thirteen people aged 12 to 47 were actively involved in the wild melipone honey’ harvest and 93 beekeepers likely to impact the valorization of melipone and the corridor conservation were interviewed. This survey made it possible to identify 205 melipone nests in the study area. Apart from honey hunters, 100% of beekeepers interviewed have insufficient knowledge of meliponi nests’ identification techniques that would be essential for meliponiculture in PONASI corridor n°1.