–in Guyana’s honey imports

MICHAEL Welch, Specialist attached to the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), is encouraging beekeepers to make a “dent” in the amount of honey Guyana imports.

During his presentation at the closing ceremony of an entrepreneurial and apiculture training programme, recently held in Linden, Welch stated that in 2018, Guyana imported 27,799kg of honey at a value of $13M.

“The markets are there; the opportunities are there; but we have to ramp up production to ensure quality and quantity, and that you have handsome prices,” he said.

The presentation, which was aimed at sensitising beekeepers on how they can collaborate with the public sector on how to “make it” in the apiculture industry, and on how they can grab the attention of existing and potential honey markets.

“We are talking about honey and its associated products, and it is important that we know what strategy we need to use to get into the market in terms of selling our products,” the veteran apiarist said.

Welch said that in order for beekeepers to capture the attention of existing markets, they need to produce healthy, safe products, and should use technology that is environmentally-friendly.

He said, “Whatever you take to your consumers must be safe, wholesome, and must ensure that when they consume your product, they will not get ill, which is very important. And, in whatever you do, you must not destroy the environment. So we must ensure that we use technology that is environmentally-friendly.”

Welch also urged beekeepers to pay attention to how they promote their products, since promotion is vital to catching the attention of existing and potential markets.

The specialist pointed out that beekeepers in Guyana should definitely develop their value chain by not only producing primary products, but secondary ones as well.

“You can develop your value chain, because if you produce primary products, you do not make as much money as the person who adds value, through processing, to that product; they get more money,” he stated.

Welch encouraged beekeepers and entrepreneurs to be innovative, and to think of producing products that consumers are willing to pay high prices for.
According to Welch, apiculture is an environmentally-sustainable activity for Guyana, due to the rich biodiversity of plants that exist within the country, which will allow bees to garner nectar to produce honey.

He added that apiculture is a part of the government’s policy as it relates to producing “our own food”, and it also provides employment, which results in the creation of wealth.
He indicated that the GLDA is willing to work with beekeepers from all 10 of Guyana’s administrative regions, in order to develop the county’s apiculture industry.

“You are a part of the private sector; we are a part of the public sector, and we are coming together to ensure that we can gain the capacity and technology for you to produce, go out there and make money for yourself and your family,” Welch assured his audience.

The GLDA is a semi-autonomous agency that was formed in 2010. The formation was a combination of the Livestock Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and that of the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI).

According to the Ministry of Agriculture’s website, the objective of the agency is to “promote greater efficiency in the livestock product industry and to provide enhanced services in livestock husbandry, livestock health and research so as to make provision for effective administration and regulation of trade, commerce and export of livestock or livestock products and for matters related and incidental.”

The training was aimed at pushing agriculture in Linden in keeping with the vision of the Linden Enterprise Network (LEN).

The six-day training programme targeted mainly farmers within Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice). The participants were taught beekeeping, apiary planning principles, and going into value-added production.