ST. GEORGE’S GRENADA– The Ministry of Agriculture & Lands, Fisheries & Cooperatives has welcomed a technical training workshop facilitated by Argentine Apiary Experts and foresees increased benefits for the sector from this engagement.
Having placed agriculture as part of the priorities to transform the sector, the Ministry believes that the opportunity presented can improve honey production, standardise quality, and increase markets.
The workshop was part of the API Caribe Project, a regional initiative spearheaded by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), through support from the Government of Argentina and the Ministry of Agriculture & Lands, Fisheries & Cooperatives.
Delivering remarks at the opening of the workshop in St. George’s on Friday, October 28th, Permanent Secretary, Aaron Francois, said, “We have to understand the food safety standards and the protocols that we must follow in terms of building that industry.”
Francois, who has experience working in Trade, explained the need for Beekeepers to organise themselves to lobby as a collective body and maintain the same standards across the board.
He said, “We need to build a strong Grenada product that we can trade on any part of the international market; we have the creativity and talent to move the industry forward. We also have to deal with the production issues, such as queen rearing, and address the other challenges.”
Grenada benefits from Phase II of the project, which will also improve the capacity to test honey quality and support the development of queen-rearing stations. Argentine Technical Expert, Elian Tourn, says the overall aim is to improve the queen stock in the Caribbean.
According to Tourn, the exchange is helpful on both paths. “We hope to use the information about queen rearing and bee health management to improve the queen stock and beehives in all countries in the Caribbean, while at the same time controlling the Varroa mites.”
API Caribe Phase I began in July 2019 and was developed through cooperation between four countries.
The workshop participants were all beekeepers and spoke of the importance of this type of training in the industry.
“It would be good to know how to handle my bees properly to improve my production. This will help to ensure that I have sufficient honey and honey products so I can offer for sale in the future,” explained Alecia Mason.
“This is very important and can be one of the stepping-stones to a breeding programme that can be essential for the catalysing of bees and the apiculture industry, “another participant, Dwayne Mitchell, remarked.
The delegation comprised of Technical Experts, Elian Tourn and Cecelia Pellegini, who assisted the Beekeepers in strengthening their capacity in areas of queen rearing, disease management of hives, and monitoring of queen stock.
“Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Fisheries and Cooperatives… ensuring food and nutrition security for all”
