Sixteen young Barbadians now have a better idea of the beekeeping industry after undergoing training facilitated by the National Conservation Commission (NCC).
The participants who were introduced to several pertinent topics and also benefitted from demonstrations, group explorations, projects, hands-on activities and a field trip, received certificates of completion this morning during a brief ceremony at NCC’s headquarters.
The objective of the classes included the introduction of honeybees through hands-on activities, showcase the relationship between humans and honeybees, feature honeybees as an integral species in the island’s food chain, and to highlight the honeybee as pollinators and their relevance in the earth’s ecosystem.
Minister of Environment and National Beautification Trevor Prescod who applauded NCC for introducing and facilitating the classes, stressed that beekeeping is a sector that needs to be resuscitated.
The Minister noted that as his Ministry seeks to work with beekeepers to expand and boost the island’s honey production to maximum capacity; the Junior Beekeeping Classes programme will be continued in the near future to get more young people interested and involved in the industry.
“Bees continue to live a very solitary life. They live in total separation while being at the centre of the ecosystem for life. Bees live totally in isolation of all other species. Bees cluster together in a collective way and they move together. In this department’s effort to capture a lot of the features of biodiversity, this programme is one that we intend to proliferate within the months ahead,”
Prescod said NCC was currently exploring initiatives that would restore the indigenous species to the island’s landscape. (AH)
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Great training. I grew up in a beekeeping family in Jamaixa. Living in New York without bees. I feel like something is lacking. Life is not the same .
We need young bee keepers. People don’t seem to realize the importance of bees and /or effects of pollination on the saving some species of trees and plants.