Tuesday, September 16, 2008 Honeybees to lick worsening poverty
HONEYBEES will soon be mass-produced in Davao Region to produce honey for export, now in big demand in China.
Vicente Lao, chair of the Mindanao Business Council, said the production and export of honeybee is one of the region's solutions to lick the gnawing problem of poverty in this part of the country.
"Although this region is growing, there are more and more poor people growing poorer. Poverty is getting worse in this region," Lao told a recent meeting of regional planners in Davao City.
Lao has assured of a huge market in China just waiting for the Philippines to produce tons and tons of honey and export it to Chinese traders and importers looking for new suppliers of honey in Asia.
A massive Beekeeping Training program has been set up recently for various stakeholders, conducted by the University of the Philippines in Mindanao (UPMin).
A total of 30 stakeholders from surrounding villages in Mintal, Davao City, together with participants from the private firms and non-government organizations took a weeklong training at UPMin with resource persons led by Dr. Cleofas Cervancia, director of UP Los Banos Institute of Biologocal Science.
Newly trained beekeepers from the first batch of trainees are expected to start work on 22 beehive pilot farms that had been set up at UPMin.
Beekeeping or "Apiculture" is expected to become one of the region's new emerging industries that will contribute to exports and help in the economic growth of the region, according to Lao.
Lao said the bee industry will definitely help address the worsening poverty in the region as well as the whole island of Mindanao" because it is accessible to many, from housewives to small enterprises to corporate farms."
The Davao Region and Mindanao itself, according to Lao, has "a strong competitive advantage in this industry because we have no typhoons, the bees can produce all year round and we have very good coconut production which is the staple food of bees. If this grows into a backyard industry where labor is home-based, a housewife can attend to three or four hives and can bring her an extra P2,500 per month."
Trade Undersecretary Merly Cruz expressed optimism that the new emerging industry of beekeeping and honey production in the region will contribute substantially to the growth of exports in this part of the country." We're looking at the bee industry among the top priorities in the Otop (one-town, one-product) program. There's a lot of bright potentials in this new industry." Cruz said.
The trade undersecretary gave assurances to stakeholders that funds could be sourced from various government agencies and foreign agencies interested to support the growth of a new, emerging honey industry in the Philippines.
