Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture

Agriculture

St. Lucia beekeepers to receive support from Argentine experts under the Caribbean API Project

Tiempo de lectura: 3 mins.

Two Argentine experts will arrive in December in the Caribbean country to train beekeepers in the use of a new variety of hives.

apiculture

Castries, Saint Lucia, November 6, 2019 (IICA) – The authorities of Saint Lucia give final touches to the preparations for the next visit of two Argentine experts in the framework of API Caribe, a regional project of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the government of Argentina to boost the beekeeping industry of the Caribbean nations.

Gustavo Martínez Pandiani, Argentina’s Ambassador in Barbados, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), visited Saint Lucia this week to meet with representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture, beekeeper organizations, IICA and other interested parties to finalize details of the visit.

Argentine experts Elian Tourin and Liliana Gálvez will arrive in the city of Castries in early December to begin the training of local beekeepers and tour the apiaries of St. Lucia.

“We identify beekeeping as one of the priorities in the region. The objective of the program is to provide, in addition to technical efficiency for honey production, better strategies for commercialization and marketing,” said Ambassador Pandiani.

“We see that, many times, the main challenge is how to sell honey and how to prepare for export. Given the cost of importing food products in Saint Lucia, as in other parts of the Caribbean, this project means a great initiative for the island to start exporting honey instead of importing it”, he added.

API Caribe began in July 2019 and is developed through cooperation between the government of Argentina, IICA and the Ministries of Agriculture of four Caribbean countries: Barbados, Dominica, Saint Lucia and Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Argentine specialists will facilitate the installation of Perone hives, whose performance is greater than the Langstroth hives, traditionally used in those countries.

“API Caribe is a successful example of triangular cooperation between Argentina, IICA and CARICOM,” said Ambassador Pandiani.

The high vulnerability index of the Caribbean countries in the face of extreme weather events and the great potential of beekeeping to generate socio-economic benefits in the rural communities of the Caribbean make API Caribe an attractive opportunity to improve economic sustainability.

 

More information: 

Institutional Communication Division, IICA

comunicacion.institucional@iica.int

 

 

Share

Related news​

Santa Fé, Darién, Panamá

September 4, 2025

Coordination between IICA and Panamanian and U.S. government authorities bolsters the fight against New World screwworm in Central America and Mexico

As part of the efforts to curb the spread of the New World screwworm (NWS), a current health threat in Central America and Mexico, the Ministry of Agricultural Development (MIDA) of Panama, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Panama-United States Commission for the Eradication and Prevention of Screwworm (COPEG) organized a meeting with livestock farmers in the city of Santa Fé de Darién to strengthen health surveillance and better protect local livestock production.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

El Director General del IICA, Manuel Otero, reafirmó en la inauguración de Biohélice 2025 el compromiso del Instituto con la bioeconomía como eje estratégico para transformar el agro y revitalizar los territorios rurales. En el acto lo acompañaron la Directora General de CINDE, Marianela Urgellés; el Rector de la UNA, Jorge Herrera; y el presidente de CRBiomed, Álvaro Peralta.

San Jose, Costa Rica

September 3, 2025

Specialists and partners at a meeting spearheaded by IICA view the bioeconomy as essential in positioning Costa Rica and the Americas as leaders in sustainability and production transformation

The bioeconomy specialists were participating in Biohélice 2025, an event organized by Costa Rica’s Universidad Nacional, the CRBiomed association and IICA, which brought together more than 130 participants with an interest in innovation and bioeconomy.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins

Alagoas, Brasil

September 1, 2025

Eliane Faria de Souza, a fisherwoman from Northeastern Brazil combining old traditions with innovative ideas to protect the environment, is named an IICA Leader of Rurality of the Americas

Eliane works with other women in the region to transform polluting waste substances into organic fertilizer.

Tiempo de lectura: 3mins