HONEY has always held the attention of consumers from time immemorial. In Stone Age times, honey was gathered from the hives of wild bees and in all ancient civilisations, honey was much valued. It has been mentioned in the Vedas and examples of honey have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs. The greatest Roman poet who was poet laureate and lived at the Imperial Court decided to retire into the countryside. There he wrote the “Georgics” celebrating country life, paying special attention to bees and beekeeping, since he himself had become an enthusiastic beekeeper.

Despite the fact that the Caribbean was a sugar-producing region, honey was always valued and produced as a home and family product. In Guyana, during the last quarter of the 19th century when primary education was widely spread over the country and there were more schools and teachers, many teachers kept hives and gave to beekeeping something of the status of a cultured activity. In the early years of the 20th century, the Department of Agriculture established a beekeeping section in the Botanic Gardens where honey was produced, queens became available and teachers from the Teachers Training College were taught beekeeping. Accordingly, the art of beekeeping and honey production became more widespread and there was some commercial production of honey and wax and soon, the better groceries and drugstores stocked local honey.

Today, honey is in great demand since more people have been learning of its value and its many health uses resulting in local production not being able to meet the demand. This trend is worldwide and opens an insatiable market for the product. Guyanese and Caribbean honey producers, therefore, have limitless opportunities.

Thus, when at the beginning of the month, the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with the Caribbean Beekeepers Organisation launched the ninth Caribbean Beekeeping Congress, it engendered much interest among the beekeeping and agricultural community, as well as, among the consumers. The theme of the congress is “Natural Beekeeping for a Green Caribbean” which allows for a wide exploration of the industry and a gamut of creative suggestions for its development.

The conference under the aegis of the congress will be held between 19th and 23rd November and is expected to attract more than 200 participants. The Ministry of Agriculture and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA) will lend their full support.

It is expected that the conference will review the honey industry in the Caribbean, discuss its growth, expansion and exploration of local and export markets. It is hoped that the opportunities which are open to the beekeeping community would be publicised, and plans would be devised for the expansion of the industry and stimulating the interest of youth in being involved in the industry.

Plans for the training of young people, including school children, should be worked out and approaches should be made to the Ministries of Agriculture and Education for their collaboration in such efforts. The Ministry of Agriculture should be able to supply queens. Training should be in the most modern techniques and in the use of the most modern equipment and in addressing bee diseases.

Since most Caribbean producers are amateurs and hobbyists, efforts should be made to stimulate a commercial and entrepreneurial ethic among them. They should be taught, for example, how to register a company, to find out about international markets and to raise finance from the banking system.

Traditional beekeepers kept Capilanos but with the ubiquitous invasion of Africanised bees, a policy should be addressed as to how to deal with them. This should be an important topic on the agenda of the conference, since opinion is sharply divided on how to deal with them.

The conference should consider the Trinidad ban on trans-shipment of other Caribbean territories’ honey through Trinidad, and also honey exports to Trinidad under CSME rules. This Trinidad ban is not friendly to Caribbean economic integration and could lead to the principled banning of Trinidad exports to other Caribbean territories.

Honey is not only valued as a food but is used medically and to generate better health. It could help with diseases of the heart, lung, kidneys and other organs of the body. It would be a great educational service if both the print and electronic media could carry information on the food use and health and medical values of honey for the next month, until after the November conference.