Agriculture Ministry Pushes Queen Bee Rearing Among Beekeepers

The Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Mining is intensifying efforts to ramp up queen bee rearing among apiculturists.

The island’s bee population was severely affected by Hurricane Melissa, which has resulted in a shortage of locally produced honey.

Speaking in an interview with JIS News at the Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show in Clarendon recently, Senior Plant Protection Officer in the Ministry’s Apiculture Unit, Gregory Lynch is encouraging persons to rear more queens to improve production.

“This must be coupled with planting more trees and flowering plants. At the Ministry we have queen rearing kits that can generate hundreds of queens in 14 to 16 days. So, the Ministry is embarking on a programme now to push that in the hands of the farmers. We have been training over the years, but we have ramped it up over the last several months,” Mr. Lynch said.

“If you look at what happened with hurricane melissa where we had several acres of mangroves that were destroyed, those are plants that bees would have fed on to keep the population alive. What we are doing now is to give the bees artificial feed to keep the bees alive until those are restored,” he added.

In addition to bee farmers, the average householder can play an important role in helping to save the bees.

“Plant more trees and more flowering plants and do more backyard gardening. Plant more ornamental plants if you love to see the aesthetics of plants, so the bees can feed on them,” he said.

Creating a bee friendly environment is also part of supporting the survival and production of bees.

“We can create a sound environment that is free from debris, poisons and pesticides. When we discard bottles that take a long time to break down all those things impact the overall environment,” he said.

For more information, persons can reach out to the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Mining at 876-927-1731.