HONEY is a product which consumers have always used. We, therefore, welcomed the recent effort which has been launched to modernise and expand the honey industry. From time to time over the last century, there has been talk and sporadic effort by Governments to revivify the industry but such efforts were never sustained. It is hoped that this effort would be more fruitful.

In the Colonial administration, the Ministry of Agriculture always maintained a small section which could supply queens so that prospective beekeepers could begin their own hives. This beekeeping section was situated at the back of the Botanical Gardens before this back section of it was detached.

In this section, there were a number of hives which were used to give teachers in training an exposure to beekeeping and to give more intensive training to teachers who would be specialising in Agriculture, since it was the educational idea at the time that all primary schools should have school gardens where the pupils would be taught the rudiments of Agriculture. School groups from all over the country would visit the section where the apiarist would explain how honey was made. These educational efforts by the Ministries of Agriculture and Education have now been phased out.

A number of private beekeepers still continued to produce honey but most of the honey used was still imported. Most beekeepers were amateurs and the only commercial institution among them was that of the Rajkumar family of West Coast, Berbice. After 80 years, Rajkumar honey is still found in the supermarkets.

Before Independence, the bees usually hived were Capilano, a European bee which was non-aggressive and easy to manage. After Independence, Africanised bees made their appearance and gradually became the main strain in Guyana. A Brazilian scientist was experimenting with cross-breeding European and African bees.

Some of the cross-bred Africanised bees escaped from his laboratory, nested in the jungles and multiplied at an astronomical rate, taking over South and Central America and parts of the United States. The Africanised bees, though excellent honey producers, were very aggressive and fierce and attacked in unrelenting swarms, sometimes killing humans and animals with the poison of their numerous stings. The presence of Africanised bees has put another dimension to beekeeping and the honey industry in Guyana.

Honey is among the oldest foods known to man and was gathered in the wilds in early pre-historic times. In all ancient civilisations – the Indian, Chinese, Babylonian, Hebrew and Egyptian – it was used for a variety of purposes. It was offered to the Gods, used for funerary purposes, used as a food and a medication.

Today, its uses and even the methods of gathering in the wilds have changed very little over thousands of years. As a food, it is still much valued. It is regarded as one of the best sweeteners and an increasing number of people are replacing traditional jams and marmalades and other sweeteners with it. References to its value as a food are found in many ancient writings, as for example, the Promised Land in the Bible is a land of “milk and honey”. Or the ambrosia which the Gods of the various ancient religions delighted in was honey-based or the meals of which the North Europeans were so fond.

As a medication, its use has been continuous over thousands of years in much the same way as it is used today. It is used in the treatment of burns, various skin ailments and abscesses, colds and ‘flues and stomach ailments. It is also used in cosmetics.
The honey produced and sold in Guyana is usually pure honey but it is almost all multi floral since it is quite rare for any local apiary to have special types of flowers, as for example orange blossoms, on which the bees are able to feed. Apiaries near to the sugar estates tend to have their bees feed on cane sugar while those near to the mangroves, on mangrove flowers. But local honey producers would tend to describe their product as a multi floral.

Imported honey, except for the very select and expensive ones, tends to be diluted with other substances such as corn syrup and are usually a blend of several types of honey. In this sense, the pure local honey is preferable.

Honey is a product in demand worldwide and the Guyana market is open and steadily growing. The by-products of honey, especially the wax is used in cosmetics, medically and also to produce a large variety of products. With the large land mass of the country, unlimited honey production is possible. The honey industry, therefore, has great prospects of growth and profitability.

For the industry to take off, it needs to be fully modernised. The equipment used must be the most effective and efficient. Even small changes could bring about greater production and productivity as for example when hives changed from fixed to movable honeycomb containers.

The foreign markets, their various regulations and needs must be professionally studied so that the Guyanese exporter would not find them insuperable and be discouraged. And it is quite easy for the Guyanese exporter to be discouraged because all producers are single farmers and are largely country folk. There are no commercial companies as in the developed countries.

For the honey industry to take off and be a substantial job-creator and foreign exchange earner, the Ministry of Agriculture and Go Invest must be involved. The officers deployed to deal with the Industry must have an empathy for it, and must understand that it is unique and very different from other industries.

They must be fully abreast of the advances in equipment and methods and techniques of the modern industry abroad and quickly share such knowledge with the apiarists. If Government gave its full and committed support to revolutionising the industry, it could open an avenue of profitable employment and foreign exchange earnings.