In Issue 88

The Ninth Latin-American and Iberian Apicultural Congress

The Chilean beekeeping community together organised this very large Congress in early July. This Series of Congresses has become the main event in the apicultural calendar for the Spanish and Portuguese- Speaking apicultural community.

The Congress took place in Concepcién, Chile’s second city, and represented a great step forward for beekeeping comparatively recently, during the 1990s, that a national beekeeping association was formed in the country. With a united voice, beekeepers have achieved much with good official recognition and support for the sector. For example, Chile's Minister of Agriculture took time out to open the Congress, as pictured below.

Chile’s 4,000 beekeepers, looking after 400,000 colonies of honey bee _ derived from European races of Apis mellifera, harvest an annual 9,000 tonnes of honey. Approximately 80% of this is exported, the majority to Germany. There is much scope for Chilean beekeepers to increase their income from their bees. Those barrels of honey for export contain a mixture of marvellous honeys, that could achieve a better price if marketed as mono-floral and speciality honey.

The next in this series of Congresses will take place in Brazil in 2010.

Nicola Bradbear, Director Bees for Development

Bees for Development

1 Agincourt Street, Monmouth NP25 3DZ, UK Tel: +44 (0)1600 714848 info@beesfordevelopment.org www.beesfordevelopment.org