The Georgetown Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI), yesterday, held a beekeeping workshop as part of a two-phase project to enhance Guyana’s apiary industry.
According to a GCCI press release, the workshop had 25 participants between the ages of 18 and 25, and was mainly targeted towards unemployed persons, including vulnerable groups, youths and women, preparing them to take advantage of the opportunities currently available in the local apiculture industry.
The release stated that the workshop included three practical/field exercises with visits to honey bee hives, and to the New Guyana Marketing Corporation packaging facility, and information on the fundamentals of starting an apiary, site selection, types of bee hives, conditions under which honey bee colony thrive, identification and breeding of queen bees, identification and roles of drone and worker bees, necessary equipment, harvesting techniques, honey and beeswax production and packaging and labelling techniques.
According to the release, the second component of the project “enhancing the apiary industry in Guyana” will be held next week with a workshop focussed on Marketing and Record Keeping, by the end of which, participants should be able to understand how to manage an apiary business, keep basic accounting records of income and expenses, markets, market trends and sales; prepare income and expense reports and cash flow records, and keep and establish public statistics of demand and supply of honey and beeswax by-products.
These workshops are part of a bigger three year programme being implemented by the GCCI with financial and technical support from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), through its Caribbean Technological Consultancy Services Network (CTCS), entitled “Enhancing the Capacity of Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) in Guyana”, the release said.
According to the release, the objective of this programme is to enhance the managerial, technical, and operational capacity of MSMEs in Guyana, thereby contributing to increased productivity, profitability and competitiveness.
It is expected that the training activities will assist MSMEs to transition from small scale operations to large volume production and take advantage of export opportunities when they arise.
