Bee keepers bounce back

Efforts are underway with financial assistance from the Canadian Government, to give a boost to the bee keeping industry in Dominica.

The industry was dealt a severe blow when more than 36 bee hives were wiped out during the collapse of the Matthieu Dam last year.

President of the Bee Keepers Cooperative Society Ltd, Lennox Fagan, says more than $60,000 has been made available by the Canadian government, part of which is being used for training projects. He said some of the money was also used to replace lost hives.

More than twenty people involved bee keeping in Dominica are currently participating in a workshop geared at enhancing their skills in that sector. Participants will, among other things, receive practical training on the extraction of honey and how to construct proper hives.

“The training is essential to the bee keepers on the island. We are targeting those involved in the sector and those who are unemployed too. This is the culmination of the program however we will be doing an ongoing training with them,” Fagan said.

However, Fagan says it will take many months of hard work and preparation to “bounce back” from the Matthieu Dam loss.

“Right now we are also suffering from the weather. Climate change is also an issue. This year we didn’t experience a good honey production. Sometimes you find a lot of rain and too much sun,” he said.

According to Fagan, the bee keeping industry is a profitable one, however, he is concerned that the record keeping process is not always done properly.

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12 Comments

  1. loveable
    July 26, 2012

    good for the people in Dominica :wink: :wink:

  2. July 25, 2012

    Glad to see my country helping out,.. there is nothing like fresh honey…

  3. alas
    July 25, 2012

    Hats off to Ken Coipel and IICA for assisting the beekeepers to get that support after the mathiew dam loss.

  4. hmmmm
    July 25, 2012

    if only materials 4 bee keeping was readily available 2 young bee keepers i doe mind na. is a struggle 2 get material on island n via d association.

  5. Farmer's son
    July 25, 2012

    I am pleased to learn that the Beekeepers Cooperative will be receiving some funding assistance to help develop bee-keeping and honey production in Dominica. Given the abundance of flowering plants in this country we have an opportunity to increase production of honey and honey bee by-products.

    We hope that the Cooperative will be succesful in organizing training workshops in various in several areas. The workshops will help to attract new producers and improve production business skills of new and existing honey producers.

  6. Lord have mercy
    July 25, 2012

    All these industries have potential, but no safe, efficient and viable mode of transportation. An international airport would make sure that all these products get to the consumers who are now looking for genuine products with good health benefits.

  7. Ezio Auditore
    July 25, 2012

    I want to be a bee keeper! I want to keep bees, I don’t want them to get away I want to keep them! Bees have too much freedom! I want my bees on elastic, so when they go eventually they get back here! my father was a bee keeper and his father before him and I want to follow in their footsteps which goes a little like this ” ahhh im covered in bees help me, im covered in bees” buzz buzzz buZZzz

  8. new bee keeper
    July 25, 2012

    i am a self tought bee keeper on the east.I read the article. I am very exciting about it.I would like to attend a workshop on bee keeping.What i’ve learnt via the internet,i’ve passed on that information to a number of young persons.They are interested in becoming beekeepers.I hope mr Fagan has plan to keep a workshop on the east Delices to be more specific.

    • B-dawg
      July 25, 2012

      @ New bee keeper on the east,(Delices) I am interested in your idea, and I’am willing to give u a helping hand to start up.

  9. anonymous2
    July 25, 2012

    Are you going to post the training times and places prior to their taking place so that interested parties can sign up?

  10. Trueman
    July 25, 2012

    AT LAST!!!!

    BEST OF LUCK!! SO WE DON’T HAVE TO IMPORT ANY HONEY!!

  11. onlooker
    July 25, 2012

    Happy for the Bee Keepers, hope you put the funds into good use and we see some tangible results soon. Best of Luck guys, you have been struggling but kept your feet on the ground. Keept up!

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