Pacific Island Beekeepers to Address Honey Qaulity

Money For Your Honey
Pacific Magazine, 3/15/2006

Beekeepers from Pacific Island countries are meeting in Rakiraki, Fiji this week to discuss how to make the most of a growing honey industry. “Beekeeping and honey production have been identified as key business activities in a number of Pacific Islands,” said Forum Secretary General, Greg Urwin.

In Fiji alone, figures from Fiji’s Ministry of Agriculture show that 200 tonnes of honey were harvested in 2005 and the forecast for 2006 is 250 tonnes. This is still short of the 300 tonnes demanded annually, with the balance being met through imports from Australia, New Zealand, China and India. The regional workshop is part of a drive to increase quality honey production and to boost the capacity of producers to tap into niche markets. Disease-free honey attracts high demand in overseas and regional markets, as well as from national tourism industries.

A key issue for the workshop will be to promote high standards that meet quarantine requirements, especially as free trade opens up over the next decade under the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA). A recent regional meeting of Trade officials agreed that quality standards for niche products must be addressed in the Regional Trade Facilitation Programme, administered by the Forum Secretariat…