Green unveils ambitious plan to elevate bee farmers

Western Bureau:

Agriculture Minister Floyd Green has unveiled an ambitious national cost-production system, which is designed to provide local bee farmers with the tools and knowledge necessary to remain competitive in the market while ensuring sustainable production and fair pricing of their goods.

Green, who was speaking yesterday at the St James Bee Farmer’s Association Healthy Lifestyle Day celebrations at the St James Parish office of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in Montego Bay, St James, said that having done a study, the sector is now able to calculate the cost of production.

“We have undertaken a national cost of production study, and what we’re going to be doing to develop a cost-of-production tool that we will work with your associations, like the St James Farmers Association, so that you can help your farmers to calculate their cost of production,” Green said.

According to Green, the study is being done because the ministry realised that sometimes when people get involved in beekeeping, they don’t work out their cost of production.

“Sometimes what they are charging is not putting them in a position to continue to be competitive and also to continue their enterprise,” said Green, who is seeking to empower the nation’s bee farmers.

Going forward, Green said bee farmers and other persons seeking to invest in the sector will be provided with training on how to use this tool to build out their bee colony and their businesses.

“We’re going to put this on the website, and we’re going to do additional training and sensitisation so that our bee farmers can enhance their productivity and, importantly, their profitability,” said Green, who wants the bee farmers to treat their undertakings as a business.

“Our beekeeping industry is vital not only for honey, not only for wax products, but because it plays a pivotal role in pollination, [and therefore has] a greater impact on food security and biodiversity,” explained Green.

IMPORTANCE OF BIODIVERSITY

According to Green, bees are responsible for pollinating at least a third of the food the nation consumes, pointing out the importance of biodiversity to the growth of fruits, vegetables, and nuts, which are essential elements of a proper diet.

Green said the production tool that has been designed is important to the survival of the sector as it will provide critical cost input for someone considering a career as a bee farmer. He said when developed, the cost-of-production tool for bee farmers will provide potential investors with the amount of money they will need to put in and the likely return on their investment.

At present, Green says the island’s beekeepers are facing significant challenges to stay afloat largely because of climate-change activities that have resulted in elevated heat, longer droughts, and more intense periods of rain.

“I am very aware that beekeepers face significant challenges. They face limited access to affordable inputs. Our beekeepers are being faced with more and more high operational costs. Unfortunately, deforestation is directly negatively impacting our beekeepers and climate change,” he said.

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