Caribbean update

ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA

THEY CALL HIM THE HONEYMAN

Anthony Richards

Dropping lightly from the battered, black pickup truck, piled high with hive boxes and trailing an airborne chorus of bees, he walks into the school yard. It does not take long for a train of children to form behind the veiled Rasta, draped in white and wreathed in a , cloud of smoke. They call him

The Honey Man.

When registering for a beekeeping course in 1996, Alistair Twaado' Jacobs was still a carpenter, little knowing he would become Antigua's icon for all that is ‘sweeter for the sting’. Now, as Field Officer of the Antiqua Beekeepers’ Co-operative, he provides a lifeline to 50 beekeepers and honey hunters. He also teaches the six week course for ‘newbees', and shares his vision for Caribbean honey with school children. What looks like useless bush to the land developer, is literally a valley flowing with 'you know what’ in the eyes of The Honey Man.

West Indian honeys, from Trinidad & Tobago in particular, have been winning international prizes for many years. Perhaps their secret is the great diversity of flowering plants in the islands. Continental honey is often produced by bees foraging on just one extensive crop, such as alfalfa. By contrast, the Caribbean honeys have something of the unruly Soca rhythm. Different types of nectar parade during the year like Carnival troupes: a dry season red, then a wet season gold, light coloured when the mangroves blossom in the salty wetlands, and then dark.

Although there are 1,000 flowering plant species in Antigua and more than 3,000 in Trinidad & Tobago, bees can be quite particular. Jamaicans swear that their bees will ignore all other flowers to feed on the flowers of the genjp, a fruit tree introduced by the Arawaks. In St Luciaand Dominica, the favourite honey is gathered when the savonette, unique to the Antilles, is in flower. At Christmas, beekeepers on Antigua & Barbuda eagerly anticipate the week-long bloom of logwood. a dyewood introduced from Latin America by the buccaneers in the 16th century.

Beekeeping and honey hunting go back to Egyptian times but bees were only introduced to the Caribbean from Europe in the 17th century. The latest arrival sare the African honeybees. They reached Trinidad in the 1980s, but remarkably, not yet Tobago.

It is part of The Honey Man's job to patrol Antiqua's ports for evidence of invasions of African bees and bee diseases. both threats until on 4 March 2005, he discovered a tick-like parasite sucking on bees inhabiting a trap at the capital's Deep Water Harbour. The Varroa or vampire’ mite had finally arrived in Antigua.

Varroa mites have destroyed most of the wild and feral bees in Europe and North America during the 1980s, and have been island-hopping here in the Caribbean throughout the 1990s. According to Tomas Mozer, regional bee inspector in Florida: "We expect it to wipe out at least half of the colonies on the island, like it did in Barbados, St Lucia and other islands”. Antiguan beekeepers want to keep their reputation for the finest organic honeys. Unlike their counterparts, they will not be dousing the hives with chemicals to combat the mite. "We are going to let nature select a resistant bee", says The Honey Man, with that unmistakably Rasta confidence. “No chemicals here. Bee wise!”

LIAT Islander Issue 69, August 2005

ANTIGUA HIT BY VAMPIRE’ MITE

Nikisha Smith

Antigua is in the middle of a significant honey production shortage that is expected to last for at least four years. The problem is due to Varroa that came to Antigua's shores in the first quarter of 2005. In the last year the mites have completely taken over Antigua while Barbuda is clear for the moment. Chief Extension Officer Sereno Benjamin described the situation as a massive problem. One bee farmer, Kathy Knight, has estimated that by 2007 Antiqua will have a shortage because the bees are just disappearing. But Benjamin said that a shortage is already here. He related that when the agricultural department wanted honey for display at the Food Fair and to give to boat crews during the Antigua Sailing Week, there was a problem securing enough.

Prior to the Varroa problem, Antigua had between 350-400 honeybee colonies. That population is severely depleted. Richards estimated that only about 20% of his stock has survived the parasites.

President of the Antigua Beekeepers' Co-operative, Alvin Langlais said that at this time of the year, the Co-operative usually has five barrels of honey. Now they cannot find enough to fill their orders. Many groups will be affected by the decimation of the honeybee population. Knight expects that the farmers will feel the shortage because the bees will not be there to pollinate their crops. "At one time there were no bees in our yard at Parham and after | because of the bees pollinating the trees”. Langlais agreed. He said that at present producers of melons and cucumbers have reported a significant decrease in their crop yields. Hotels, supermarkets and restaurants are also expected to suffer because the Co-operative will be unable to fulfil their production expectations.

Some measures are being implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture. Benjamin said that the main treatment of the problem is time and colony management. Farmers have already held meetings with agricultural partners such as the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA) on colony management and the Government has employed The Honeyman, Alistair Jacobs, to work specifically with the bee farmers.

One solution that has been suggested is that the farmers change the type of boxes used for the bees to make honey. Instead of a solid bottom hive, the bottom would be made out of mesh wire so that when the bees groom, the mites would drop to the ground. Langlais said that although it is a good solution in theory, the mesh wire would introduce the problem of ants. Usually, ants are no problem for bees but in their current weakened state, the bees would be killed and the larvae eaten by the ants. Langlais said that they are currently having problems getting transportation to check all of the hives regularly. They have applied to the Minister of Marine Resources and AgroIndustries, Joanne Massiah, who has promised that a vehicle would be provided for that purpose.

Varroa destructor infested St Lucia and has completely wiped out the bee population, according to Dr Anthony Richards, Chief Government Chemist and Member of the Antigua Beekeepers’ Cooperative. Barbuda has not been infected with the mite, as yet, and the Island is being protected as the last refuge for honey production. Richards said that beekeepers in Antigua understand not to bring in foreign bees, used boxes or bee tools. He feels that this rule must also be employed in terms of transfer from Antigua to Barbuda.

AntiguaSun.com, 14 and 17 July 2006

JAMAICA

AGRI MINISTRY MOVES TO EXPAND HONEY PRODUCTION

John Myers and Rasbert Turner

The Ministry of Agriculture is moving to increase honey production to to meet demand for Jamaican honey on the international market. Through its Apiculture Unit, the Ministry has been recruiting and training farmers in beekeeping. The first batch of 28 young farmers graduated from the Bodles Research Centre in St Catherine on 6 April 2006. This was at a cost of JM$2.1 million.

The 28 farmers were also given a grant of JM$71,000 each to assist with purchasing equipment for their farm. "This initiative falls under the umbrella of the Ministry's Agricultural Development Strategy which seeks to train unemployed young people from rural communities in marketable agricultural skills, in order that they may achieve economic sustainability", Agriculture and Land Minister, Roger Clarke said. The beekeeping industry is one of eight priority areas identified by the Ministry for Development to generate employment and export earnings under the Agricultural Development Strategy.

A total of JM$4.1 million has been spent out of the JM$30 that has been allocated for the development of the beekeeping industry. Reginald Peddy, Chief Apiculture Officer in the Apiculture Unit, said there is also @ revolving loan programme that is available to existing bee farmers who want to improve and expand honey production. He said loans are awarded based on the farmers’ location, size of current operation, ability to adapt to training and to meet prescribed production targets. Statistics from the Ministry's Data Bank show that honey production grew from 60,000 kg in 1997 to 77,000 kg in 2005. Data also showed that honey production per colony increased from 14.6 litres in 1997 to 34 litres in 2005. Mr Clarke credits this improvement on the Apiculture Unit's involvement in training farmers to adopt new technology, research and pest management.

Winfield Murray, president of the All-Island Bee Farmers Association (AIBFA) said that based on the local and international demand for Jamaican honey, the bee industry has the potential to be a ‘gold mine’. He said there have been enquiries from the EU to supply the equivalent of two containers of honey per month. Unfortunately, he said this could not be met. He said also at least two other EU companies have expressed an interest in purchasing Jamaican honey.

Source: www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner, 17 April 2006

Bees for Development acknowledges the Jamaica Gleaner for the use of this text and image.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The Fourth Caribbean Beekeeping Congress was held in Trinidad & Tobago in November 2005 and reported in Bees for Development Journal 78. Plans are underway for the Fifth Congress, likely to be held in Guyana in 2008. Proceedings of the first three Caribbean Congresses can be purchased at www.beesfordevelopment.org/store