Apicultural Society– Buzzing about Liquid Gold Industry Idea

Jun 07, 2017 News

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Seeks audience with President to charter way forward

(by Mondale Smith)
There is much talk about planting a tree for food security but without bees, there would be no trees. Pollination is necessary for the creation of new seeds for sustainable rainforests to fight the Green House emissions and ultimately save the world.
America spends over US$12B on pollination yearly. Australia spends another huge sum. The key to this reality is Bees.
Thus far Guyana does nothing aside from seeing bees as nuisances. But all being equal this view may change if the Guyana Apiculture Society has its way.
Guyana has about 300 Beekeepers/honey harvesters but they are not all part of the Apiculture Society.
The society which has a membership of about 25 is aiming to have an official audience with President David Arthur Granger and the Minister of Agriculture, Noel Holder, to convince them that Bees are the producers of ‘liquid gold’- Honey.
The Guyana Apicultural Society was formed in 2001 when former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds facilitated a project in Guyana, training potential Beekeepers and honey hunters in several villages. There has been no word on what has happened since that exercise was completed.
This sweet liquid goodness offers a much healthier option than sugar, and could become the next best natural economic earner with Guyana becoming a major producer while promoting the nation as a true emerging green state.
I caught up with Apiculturist Linden Stewart, Vice President, and two-time President of the Guyana Apiculturist Society during a recent extraction of about 40,000 dreaded bees. During our engagement, he made it clear that “bees are not our enemies they are our friends and we have a prime environment to coexist.”
He posited, “If all the bees in the world are to die, mankind would only exist for about four years after as there are not enough self-pollinating plants to ensure sustained food
security and as such bees are very important to the equation of Guyana being a Green state.”
He notes, too, that had attention been given to the Beekeeping industry in Guyana during the tenure of the previous administration, Guyana would have been the beneficiary of much-needed funding from Norway. But the country still has a chance under the current administration.
Stewart noted that locally the demand for honey is far more than is being supplied. They want to be included as an industry even under the Ministry of Agriculture so as to benefit from budgetary allocations come 2018 and he says since Guyana wants to diversify away from sugar, Honey is the more natural and healthier way to go.

Extraction for sustainable continuation
Almost daily Stewart’s Kingdom Apiary is called upon most often in misunderstood fears to extract Bees. When extracted they are taken to a nursery for monitoring before they ultimately end-up at the Apairy on the Soesdyke Highway.
In 2013, Mr. Stewart and three other Guyanese represented Guyana at the first Caribbean Beekeeping College and Honey Show in Grenada. Twelve countries participated. At that event held at the St George’s University, Guyana won awards for Best Honey in the Caribbean in four categories.
Additionally, Mr. Rajkumar from Berbice captured two second place awards and Mr. Aubrey Roberts placed third for the third Darkest Honey in the region. Guyana also won the fifth place award for Best Overall honey flavor in the Caribbean.
Honey is known to the world as ‘liquid gold’. It is the fifth most expensive natural resource. Stewart speaking on the behalf of the Society said Guyana can tap into this resource as it has the capacity to produce as much as 100 tons of honey annually.
However, from his point of view the industry seems to have always been on the back burner and as such it only produces on average of about two tons yearly as opposed to Jamaica an island which produces some 35 tons.
“There is the need for more emphasis on stakeholders and government input to make this a more viable industry and all being equal aside from the recently found oil, honey could be the next big economic earner for Guyana,” Stewart noted.
He said that Guyana’s situation is a matter of understanding the importance of bees to the economy and for the realization of bees as an important factor in the food security equation.”
Bees, aside from producing the sweet honey nectar, make allowance for bi-products such as Beeswax, bee pollen for healthy living, Propulist (anti-bacterial) and royal jelly. Further, the Bees Venom is also used for a number of health-related healing activities.
The Vice-chairman of the Guyana Apiculture Society noted, too, that given the President’s vision for Guyana to become a Green Emerging State is emphatic that the nation has the capacity to flood the whole Caribbean with much needed honey.
Solidifying his proposal, he said that Guyana has 17 million hectares of rainforest. Of that lot, each hectare can take off over 500 hives but he noted that even with one hive per hectare some two gallons of honey can be produced four to five times annually which amounts to 17 million gallons multiplied by two.
A simple calculation will show that a gallon of honey is equivalent to 14 lbs of the sweet healthy natural goodness-honey.
I recently had a gaff about bees with Agriculturists Linden Stewart and his assistant, Raihan Warisali, as they were in the process of extraction of about 40,000 bees from a wall at a Government Ministry. They do extractions on a daily basis through the Kingdom Apairy Company. Tele: 6296143/6289118. They extract bees for a small fee.
Africanized Bees are the best pollinators and are responsible for one-third of the food we eat every day worldwide.
The President has encouraged the idea of bees being distributed nationwide especially in the riverine areas to ensure a sustainable Forest. Stewart has been working with Bees for over four decades, since age 14, first as a hobby but also as a livelihood. He first visited a hive at age seven.

Dangerous or not?
Bees are only dangerous when they are disturbed because they are territorial but this disposition is not limited to Africanized bee. They are deaf but they respond to vibration and scents.
Stewart said don’t brush them off; just run as fast as possible to find shelter in a vehicle or building. If they enter any location turn up the Air Condition and they will huddle together to get warm.
Do not jump into rivers or waterways because the bees will circle the water and await your emergence to attack. On the local shores almost every year at least one life is lost at GUYSUCO as a result of Bees being disturbed in the wild.
About Bees and their Queen
Bees may be in a hive by the thousands but there is only room for one Queen and they are very protective of her. However, the worker bees are docile once smoked out for extraction. The smoke shuts off the venom valve and this makes them less aggressive and calmer hence no more stinging for a while.
Once the queen is found the rest of bees will follow her because she will release a pheromone to call the workers to the hive.
The queen who mates with six or seven dozen drones while in flight about 20ft above ground, mid-afternoon does so while traveling at ten miles an hour. Then the drones die shortly after mating leaving the queen to lay about three thousand eggs daily for two to three years.

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