Ministry of Agriculture Importing Bee Boxes, Not Bees, from Israel

Last evening we reported that the Ministry of Agriculture was importing a new species of bees from Israel for honey production. The Ministry’s National Coordinator for Beekeeping, Miguel Huertas explained that this follows the expressed interest from a number of people in learning how to establish colonies of bees and to benefit from it as a honey-producing business.

Miguel Huertas

Miguel Huertas, National Coordinator, Beekeeping, Ministry of Agriculture

“They want to introduce high schools or primary schools which kids can be more aware and have the hands-on experience of what beekeeping is actually about. It is an observation hive where the person, the kid, or the farmer can get close to the colony and by just opening a compartment, they can see directly what is inside. They can see the brood chamber, they can see the honey, they can see the bees actually working in depositing the honey or the nectar into the colony. We cannot just give a bee colony to any school because there are procedures on how to establish an apiary. We know that bees are very defensive and if a school has one it should be far away from where kids or farms are, and a barrier so that they are safe and they will not affect anyone while the bees are pollinating or doing what they do best.”