For more than 30 years beekeeping or apiculture has been pursued primarily as a hobby with apiaries yielding modest amounts of honey sufficient to sustain no more than a cottage industry. The pursuit took no serious account of either the large and lucrative international market or the diversification possibilities that repose in the industry’s value-added potential. Globally, Asia, the United States and some countries in South America are among the major players in the honey industry. Last year 2.7 million honey-producing colonies in the United States generated 17.9 million gallons of raw honey, up 20 per cent from 2009 production levels. That honey windfall occurred at a time when the average price for locally produced honey was around US$1.60 per pound. Honey production makes financial sense even in a country with an economy the size of America. Last year, Vietnam, one of the Asia’s honey-producing giants exported 22,500 metric tonnes of honey. By comparison Guyana is a micro player in the industry. Indeed, last year’s overall honey production totalled a mere 8,000 gallons, an amount that is less than adequate even to satisfy the demands of
