Bee-keepers stung by housing growth

Speaking yesterday during the Fourth Caribbean Bee-keeping Congress at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Inspector of Apiaries, Ian Fletcher, said apiaries were being forced to relocate due to growing housing developments.

Fletcher said the authorities recently warned an apiary in St Augustine to relocate, as people complained of being stung. However, although apiaries are under threat, the honey they produce is mostly consumed in Trinidad and Tobago.

Minister of Agriculture, Land and Marine Resources, Jarrette Narine, said honey has major export potential, but there is no surplus honey available for the export market. "The fact that TT won prizes at the prestigious Honey Show in London on every occasion attended strongly suggests that the industry has potential," said Narine.

Narine said the ministry is committed to ensuring that beekeepers meet that potential by reviewing the incentives offered to the nation’s beekeepers.

The ministry offers regular one-week courses in bee-keeping for new and prospective beekeepers; free two-year Masters Beekeepers Programmes; and has made free extension and diagnostic services through Bee-keeping Officers available in most counties.

Narine said the ministry will also maintain a 50 percent subsidy on the purchase of all bee-keeping equipment, and machinery purchased by registered beekeepers. Starter colonies and honeybee queens will be subsidised for new beekeepers, and training in the mass production of queens and nuclei.

Also speaking at the congress were Gladstone Solomon of Caribbean Bee-keepers Association; Dr Nicola Bradbear, president of the Standing Commission for Rural Development, and Chunilal Roopnarine, President of the Professional Beekeepers Association.