IICA Supports local beekeeprs in Belize

On July 21st, July, IICA through the regional APP project, concluded a 6 weeks training in an effort to build the technical know-how on bee keeping of the of the Cayo Quality Honey Producers Cooperative (CQHPC). This training was part of a pilot initiative seeking to contribute to the development of the honey-value chain in Belize by improving the entrepreneurial, marketing, and organizational capacities of targeted organization, in this case the CQHPC. This included activities such as familiarization in honey standards and Good Management Practices, group organizational development including governance and structure; support in enhanced enterprise credit-readiness and investment profiling; and development of a commercial plan for group marketing of honey products. To complement these trainings, the project also provided the beekeepers with hive boxes that will enable them to expand their apiaries by at least 40%. As the final training session, beekeepers were shown the different methods and forms of supplemental feeding specifically the elaboration of patties from brewer’s yeast to ensure the survival of the bees during the periods of scarcity.

This project was financed and implemented under the “Caribbean Action under the Programme entitled Agriculture Policy Programme (APP) with focus on the Caribbean and Pacific” and specifically in Belize. This project is funded under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) and executed through a Contribution Agreement signed between the European Union (EU) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). The APP is being implemented in collaboration with the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) and the CARICOM Secretariat (CCS).