The bee industry in Papua New Guinea is set for a major re-queening exercise in coming days, with the support of ACIAR through the financial support of the Australian Government.
The Australian Centre for International Agriculture Research (ACIAR) in partnership with the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) will have commenced preparation for the new brood of Queen Bees brought in from Australia.
DAL through its Highlands Regional Office in Goroka brought in twenty Queen Bee Breeders last week to undergo a three days refresher workshop and training in queen bee breeding. Economic and Planning Advisor with the DAL Highlands Regional Office, George Waenavi said since the introduction of beekeeping into the country, there had not been any re-queening exercise.
He said the Queen Bees are the lifeline of the Bee Industry and are vital to the growth of the industry in Papua New Guinea.
Through the 20 Queen Bees are brought in from Australia by ACIAR at a cost of K150,000. These will be handed over to DAL Highlands Regional Office next week.
DAL Highlands Regional Office has specialist technical officers in apiculture and has ongoing apiculture programs which are some of the reasons for the collaboration with the ACIAR.
Waenavi said once they receive the Queen Bees, they will bring them to Goroka and keep them at the makeshift quarantine centre for a month to monitor them for disease and for them to be acclimatized to local conditions.
After quarantine, the queen bees will be given to the Queen Bee breeders who will take them back to their respective locations to breed and distribute to beekeepers.
Waenavi said it is important for provinces and districts to take ownership of this re-queening exercise by supporting the breeders.
Financial support from the ACIAR will end in December 2023, however, the re-queening exercise will take up to two years (2023 - 2024) thus partnership between Provincial Governments and District Development Authorities is important to sustain the program.
Bees are kept in several highlands provinces as well as coastal provinces including Morobe, AROB, Madang, East New Britain and Central provinces.
The current total production for local raw honey is 80 tonnes valued at nearly K1 million. However, the consumer demand for honey is at 200 tonnes so the balance of 120 tonnes of honey are imported from abroad.
President of the ‘Isten Hailans Beekeepers Association’ (IHBA), Jonah Buka acknowledged the support of the Australian Government through the ACIAR and the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL).
Buka said ACIAR has supported the Bee Industry in the country in identifying and containing the Varroa mite outbreak in 2008 and the Tropilaelaps mite outbreak in 2014.
Buka also expressed concern that the apiculture program mandate and responsibility over beekeeping has been moved away from DAL though still active with the DAL Regional Office.
The apiculture function was shifted to Coffee Industry Corporation and is currently parked at the Livestock Development Corporation.
He called on the Ministers for Agriculture and Livestock to bring back the Apiculture program to DAL as it is where all the specialist bee technicians are and where the bee program is still active.
Buka urged the Eastern Highlands provincial government and administration to take ownership of the re-queening exercise as most of the beekeeping activities in the country happen in Eastern Highlands Province.
There are a total of 7000 beehives in Papua New Guinea, of which 4000 are in Eastern Highlands Province alone.