Bee keeping groups from Manchester and St Elizabeth who recently showcased their products at the Denbigh agricultural show, have presented the Scientific Research Council (SRC) with several honey based products which they hope will soon be available for the local market and for export.

The products which have several health implications include a honey flavoured cereal, a garlic honey which is used for colds and a cinnamon flavoured honey product which is used locally for sweetening tea. Also produced is a bitter honey made with extract of the bitter wood tree and said to be used for purifying the blood, honey wine, honey sticks which are similar to lollipops, and bee-packs which include the honey comb.

The Middlesex Beekeepers Cooperative in St Elizabeth — which has 19 members — also produces a honey candle, which president Grace Foster Reid states burns “slower, cleaner and releases the scent of honey”.

The bee keepers are hoping to tap into local and international markets for honey which are said to be growing considerably as consumers are becoming more health conscious.

The group’s initiative is part of the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries’ (MOAF’s) five-year strategy to stimulate rural economic growth implemented through the Jamaica Social Funds (JSIF) Rural Economic Development Initiative (REDI) — Based on the findings contained in JSIF business plans prepared for this project, the earning potential of the Middlesex Beekeepers group from St Elizabeth alone is set to move from $4.736 million in year one of the project, to $5.233 million in year three and $6.111 million in year five.

Judith Richards, representative of the Porus Entrepreneurs group which changed its name to the Nature’s Queen Bee as a preliminary to registering as a cooperative, notes that the products have been taken to the Scientific Research Council (SRC) to see which can be produced for wide scale distribution.

“Individual members now have the products and their own little markets to which they distribute, but next year we are hoping for bigger and better markets including exports.”

REDI aims to boost Jamaica’s beekeeping industry by funding honey production projects being undertaken by the groups in St Elizabeth and Manchester. The total project investment is $ 8,804,474.00. Participants were provided with beekeeping and honey extraction equipment under the first phase of the project.

JSIF managing director Scarlette Gillings states that the project which has attracted enthusiastic support from participating members forms part of the National Vision 2030 plan to improve local livelihoods as one of several steps towards greater national development.

“It represents hope renewed and is a critical step to accomplishing the entities’ objectives of significantly increasing production and become internationally competitive,” Gillings states.

Both the Middlesex Beekeepers Cooperative and Nature’s Queen Bee intend to expand their product offerings through the production of value added goods such as pollen, honey wine, cosmetics and wax-based products, subsequently creating economic and employment opportunities in the parishes.

“We use everything, nothing is wasted,” Foster-Reid of St Elizabeth states.

Meanwhile, registration as a cooperative for the Manchester group will open the door to adequate funding for a bottling plant and for business straining required by the groups which includes six men and five women – some of whom are farmers. The group is also looking forward to opening its own bottling plant for which it is seeking funding.

According to Hutchinson-Ffrench, REDI’s Project Manager, for all bee-keepers involved, the second phase will involve infrastructural improvement in each zone to facilitate the equipping and setting up of a honey processing (extracting, bottling, labeling) facility.

Hutchinson-Ffrench notes that currently, the SRC is fully on-board in providing assistance for product development.

The MOAF investment will assist the bee keepers to meet objectives of increasing production of honey to in excess of 3,800 kg annually. Both groups will also receive organizational strengthening and capacity building training from the JSIF.