The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security’s Food Crops Department will conduct a series of one-day practical training sessions for 45 aspiring beekeepers, beginning this week.
The workshop, which starts tomorrow Tuesday, September 15, will be held again on Thursday, September 17, and Tuesday, September 22, in the training room at the Central Agronomics Research Station and Graeme Hall Apiary, at the Ministry in Graeme Hall.
Each session begins at 9:00 a.m. and runs until 3:00 p.m.
The main objective of the training is to equip participants with the skills, knowledge and tools to become practitioners in the field of beekeeping.
One of the mandates of the Ministry is to increase the number of beekeepers in both rural and urban Barbados, which would aid in greater yields within the food crop sector as well as the production of greater volumes of local honey and other bee products.
Facilitator for the sessions will be retired Senior Agricultural Officer, Colin Maynard, who was responsible for the herbal sanctuary at the Ministry, and was a senior beekeeper.
At the end of the workshop, participants who complete the training will receive a starter kit and guidance in attaining bees.
The workshop will close next week with a brief ceremony, which is expected to be attended by Ministry officials.