Beekeeper calls on agriculture department to run honey industry

BY NELSON JOE

The honey industry is not ready to capture bees carrying millions of kina floating through the air each year, beekeepers said.

Ken Jack, a timber doctor who produces and sells bee hives through Usino Timbers in Goroka, said demand exceeds supply and called the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to lead the creation of a honey industry in the country.

“Other orders are coming in but we don’t have enough stock to deliver according to the orders, some of which are on hold,” Mr Jack said.

“It motivates me to make beehives and sell them to others and train them in beekeeping from time to time to increase honey production.

“If there is a division for beekeeping within the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Goroka needs an agent to lead us in creating a honey industry. »

He said that Usino Timbers sells an average of 40 hives of bees per month and will hold the first training for the year 2022 on January 25 in Ketarobo from where it operates – one kilometer from Goroka towards Lae along the road. of the Highlands.

Mr Jack said bees also pollinate the flowers of coffee trees and vegetables for better yield and it is easy to grow anywhere.

Rex Ovio, the director of the Gorokave Hani project, said their honey was selling like hotcakes and they were struggling to deliver orders for the 100 hives they are growing at the Orobika Brotherhood Church (EBC) station in the Lapeigu area, just outside Goroka.

Mr. Ovio said they were building another shelter to add more hives.

He said they should feed the bees sugar until a hive appears during the dry season when there is no pollen in the flowers.

He said that they applied the necessary medicines to treat and renew the boxes of the hive from diseases peculiar to honey production and to the queen bees when they were infected.

But the bees tend to themselves normally and the climate is generally good for growing honey,” Ovio said.