CASTRIES, St Lucia (CMC) — A delegation from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) has arrived here to support an initiative aimed at improving sustainable honey productive intensification and food security.

IICA said that the initiative is to establish a pilot study to compare production and management parameters between the permapiculture system and the traditional apiculture system, represented by use of the langstroth hive on honey farms in St Lucia.

The activity is a follow-up intervention of IICA’s Family Agriculture Flagship Project which saw more than 30 beekeepers here trained last year in the construction and management of perone hives in a permapiculture system.

IICA said this prompted an interest in closer evaluation of the merits of the perone hive, as compared to traditional beekeeping practices.

“The activity focused on increasing knowledge based on suitable honey production and management practices in order to improve productivity, increase opportunities for differentiation, and reduce losses,” IICA said, noting that the participants learnt about the commercial management of the permapiculture system and defined the research methodology for a comparative study of the perone and langstroth hives, as well as avenues for improving hive development and commercial honey production.

“Also, they were introduced to the management system to follow in each treatment — hive placement, orientation, handling, extraction method, etc. This will guide the establishment of all hive units for observation.”

IICA said that the technical sessions were facilitated by its representative in Guatemala, Manuel Sanchez, and was attended by members of the Mille Fleur Honey Producers Cooperative in St Lucia, as well as honey producers from Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Suriname.