ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to evaluate the impact of the Africanized honey bee in one country where it has been present for a number of years. The presence of the Africanized honey bee in Peru dates from the early 1970s. The analysis of the Africanized honey bee's impact in Peru and Peruvian beekeeper's response to it, is accomplished by a comparison of beekeeping practice and production between regions free of the hybrid and those infested by it. Financial and temporal constraints also eliminated the possibility of making repeated trips to Peru to evaluate beekeeping conditions in case study areas before and after the arrival of the Africanized bee. Beekeeping is primarily a hobby for most Peruvian beekeepers, as it seems to be in other Latin American countries, the United States, and Canada. The economic status of the beekeepers can indicate both the impact of the Africanized hybrid and the ability of the beekeepers to respond to it.
