AS part of the Greater Brown’s Town community efforts, the Step Up 2013 Sweet Paradise project has expanded onto the Elletson Road property, increasing the number of sites in the community.

The European Union has allocated $1,259,060 in grant funds, channeled through the Jamaica Social Investment Fund for the development project which ventures to train 16 inner-city youth from the area in the art of bee-keeping and honey production, and is carried out under the guidance of the Ministry of Agriculture’s Apiary Division in Old Harbour.

Loy Malcolm JSIF’s General Manager for Project Management hailed the project for seeking to improve employability among the youth.

“In order for Jamaica’s economy to be prosperous job creation is key, and also providing our people with income-generating skills, thus empowering Jamaican’s to be able to help themselves,” she said.

The bee-keeping project is currently in its second phase. Participants in phase one were trained by the ministry’s apiary division, and the project dealt primarily with setting up the apiaries and training bee-keepers. In Phase Two, the project is focused mainly on the expansion of apiaries and maintenance.

Participants inducted in Phase Two were trained by Honey Comb industries. They work for three days a week from 8:00 am-2:00 pm at two locations, the main of which is Elletson Road Methodist church.

In a recent interview, Veda Fagan, secretary of the Greater Brown’s Town Community Development Benevolent Society which supervises the project, outlined the value of the bee industry.

“If all the apiaries in Jamaica united to fill one export order of honey to a country like Jordan, we still would not have enough, so there is certainly a demand for honey. This industry has endless potential, the ultimate goal of this project is export for it to be sustainable, and the [key] lies in deciding whether to focus on the Jamaican diaspora or other markets,” she said.

The purpose of this project is to expand the bee-keeping and honey production to a commercially viable level thus providing a source of income for community members. Although the most obvious benefit of this project is self-reliance, it also aims to unify the community through team work.

Not only will participants learn a skill they will also have the opportunity to earn and the possibility of setting up and operating their own apiaries.