Local bee industry moving in the right direction

President of the Barbados Apiculture Association (BAA), Glenroy Blackman, believes the local beekeeping industry is moving in the right direction. Speaking at the conclusion of the training workshop entitled “An Introduction to Beekeeping” Blackman said he was pleasantly surprised by the response to the initiative, with 20 people signing up for the programme which catered for 15. “The workshop went very well, better than we actually expected and as a result we have a number of new beekeepers on the island now,” Blackman noted. “Most of the participants were really interested in what was done and what was presented and now they’re waiting for the next level of beekeeping.” Throughout the workshop, entrants learned about the types of bees they’ll be working with that produce honey. They would have been exposed to the different services that exist in this sector such as honey production and hive removal as well as giving them the knowledge to navigate beekeeping so that they can monitor their own hive progression and troubleshoot any potential problems with pests. Joining the BAA were a number of partners, such as the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and Mount Gay Distilleries Limited, who hosted the four-day workshop at their distillery in St Lucy at the start if the month . Blackman said such partnerships were necessary in order for the industry to grow. We have realised that in order to get to where we would like to be, we need to partner with other agencies. With the state of the economy and the way the world is at present, we can’t do a lot of things on our own. We have the FAO, IICA and Mount Gay who graciously allowed us to use their facilities for the workshop and IICA has always helped out.” National Programme Officer at IICA, Damien Hinds, was also very happy about the outcome of the workshop and upbeat about the industry’s direction of travel. “I think the engagement was very rich,” Hinds said. “We have a cadre of new beekeepers that are ready to embark on their new journeys and all of this is in the effort of increasing the local production of honey. Of course we recognise that we have a very valuable resource, and while it is not widely known about in Barbados, our hope in the short term is that many of them do become au fait with it.” Hinds, who was the former president of the BAA, was keen to stress that it won’t always be plain sailing for the new beekeepers. He explained: “Key to getting to the next stage of beekeeping is sticking with it and working through the kinks. It is not all times of year that the environment is conducive for beekeeping and the bees themselves. It is about how you navigate those periods to ensure you continuously have production. Understand that patience, good practices which is one of the things that we try to impart and confidence you can get back to the level you want.” The next apiculture event is scheduled for May 20, which is World Bee Day. (JC)