WHENEVER any serious writing or comment is made about the agricultural sector, the focus is always on those industries which produce commodities such as rice, sugar or lumber, which are foreign exchange earners. It’s only on the rare occasion that any attention is ever paid to those industries which are discussed abroad; and invariably, there would be no follow-up, since interest would have quickly waned.

A typical example of this is the coconut industry. Coconut oil is fast replacing olive oil as the healthiest edible oil on the market; and the coconut itself and its water have the status as a health food. Yet, there has been no promotion of the industry, despite its obvious profitable possibilities as a provider of employment and a foreign exchange earner.

The honey industry is one such agricultural industry where Guyana has a superior advantage over most countries. We have unlimited land for hives, in areas where the human population is very sparse, and where there are forests or woodlands where the bees could gather their nectar. There is also a sizable number of persons who are skilled beekeepers. And there is a large local, Caribbean and international market waiting to be tapped. The international market is steadily expanding, because the valuable properties of honey as a health food and pharmaceutical are being rediscovered. The market for pure, high quality honey is insatiable.

Several countries, especially the developed ones, are the big producers of honey, but pure, high-quality unadulterated honey could only be obtained from special health food shops. Most of the honey sold in these countries or exported abroad, is adulterated with a number of substances, such as corn syrup, or are chemically processed, where some of the components of the pure honey is extracted and used for other purposes.

Locally-produced honey is generally preferred to the foreign imports, since it tends to be pure. But such local honey is not regularly obtainable. The reason for this is because most local honey producers are amateurs and hobbyists and not companies with a continuum. The Rajkumar family in Berbice is the oldest honey-producing company in Guyana, and has been in business for the last two generations, and their product is the only locally-produced honey which could be regularly obtained in the supermarkets.

Honey has been a valued food from Neolithic times, and there are extant drawings of primitive Man gathering honey from caves. In fact, all ancient Civilisations valued honey, and it was used as the main sweetener. The ancient Indians, Chinese, Hebrews and later Greeks and Romans greatly valued it as a food, and for its pharmaceutical uses. It was believed to be the food of the Gods, and Ambrosia was believed to be honey-based. It was widely used in religious ceremonies,and in the Hebrew tradition, honey and milk was thought to be the most valuable of foods.

In Greco-Roman Civilisation, having an apiary was one of the most prestigious things aristocratic farmers desired to have. The greatest Roman poet, Virgil, who had received the highest Imperial honours and lived in the luxury of the Imperial Court for many years, decided to retire and become a farmer and beekeeper. He celebrated his life in his new role in his “Georgics”.

The medicinal uses and qualities of honey were widely accepted in both the ancient and modern worlds, and the list of such uses would be a very long one. In Guyana and the Caribbean, for example, it is used with limes or other combinations to treat colds and ‘flu, and for cuts and burns. Last November, the Caribbean Beekeepers Congress met in Guyana, and they discussed the many difficulties facing the industry, and ways of improving production.

In the words of Guyana’s Minister of Agriculture, Mr Noel Holder, who addressed the Congress: “Bee Legislation and honey regulations are basic necessities for the industry to be expanded. This is especially important as we aspire to export to high-value markets such as the European Union. However, these remain out of reach at the present time, due to their complex export regulations and procedures, and standards of natural produce.”

The Minister then went on to say that though the larger international markets are out of our reach, collaborative actions, greater coordination and regional integration are required to achieve concrete outputs in the long and medium-term.

Guyana, unlike the Caribbean islands, has the basics for becoming one of the world’s larger producers of pure, high-quality honey. In the savannahs and Interior regions, there is limitless very sparsely populated land, which could accommodate thousands of hives, in close proximity to which would be woodlands where the bees could gather their nectar from wild flowers. There is also a fairly large corpus of skilled honey producers, which could be rapidly expanded, once the great profitability of the industry becomes known. In this regard, the honey industry, the media, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Education will have to mount campaigns to let people know how lucrative the industry could be.

The State will, however, have to play a crucial role in the creation of a large and successful industry. The State will have to offer land, financial incentives and assistance, and have all beekeepers exposed to the most modern techniques used in the industry for large-scale production. The Ministry of Agriculture could help with such a programme. Modern legislation would have to be put in place to ensure that the industry is assisted, and, above all, that only pure, high-quality honey is produced and exported from Guyana.

Once the country would have earned the reputation of only producing and exporting pure, high-quality honey, using modern techniques, finding the maarket will not be a problem. The honey industry would then be a notable foreign exchange earner, and a provider of employment for thousands.