Humans must see bees as co-existing...
month on the average, one or two persons die from attacks by Africanised bees and scores of others suffer stings in greater or le, two individuals, became the hapless victims of killer bees attack. The two persons have been identified as Sirpaul Rishi Hemraj, 62, of Black Bush Polder and Dorothy Adams, 58, of Rotterdam, East Bank Berbice. Compounding the afore-described saga is the fact that residents are forced to defray expenses for the removal of the nest. According to a newspaper report in 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture has long disbanded its ‘bee unit’, so that anyone or any entity faced with a bee emergency and wishing to urgently have the bees removed, must be prepared to find within the vicinity of $17,000 to $20,000 to have the bees disposed of. The time has come when the government needs to revise and devise what could or should be done with these flying assassins.
On August 23, 2020 at the opening of the 9th Beekeeping Congress held at the Guyana School of Agriculture, the Minis-ter of Agriculture Noel Holder spoke thus: “Our beekeepers play a pivotal role in the sector and the work of this organization (Guyana Apiculture Society) is an important element in reshaping and repositioning the Caribbean honey industry by exposing new persons to beekeeping, introducing international best practices to existing beekeepers, developing export potential in the apiculture trade in the Caribbean and boosting local beekeeping businesses via the promotion of local apiculture products to Caribbean visitors. This sweet liquid goodness offers a much healthier option than sugar, and could become the next best natural economic earner with Guyana becoming a major producer while promoting the nation as a true emerging Green State. The Catch 22 situation is that while Guyana is poised to become a major honey producer, the agent of change is an identified population reducer.
An Advisory Committee dealing with public education, public information, public health, a management plan and a fully functioning up and ready Extermination Unit should be set up. The input of all relevant stakeholders should be solicited so that a harmonious and lifesaving solution can be arrived at. Apiculturist and owner of several bee farms across Guyana, and also an expert on bees, Frances Bailey made it very clear during one of his speaking engagements that Guyanese see bees as enemies instead of coexisting habitants of the planet. He posited that in Guy-ana, we have the Africanized bee which has adapted to the climate and weather patterns of Guyana. He also noted that bees do not attack without reason. Bees are deaf but they respond to vibration and scents. This may be true, hence the existing living arrangement between Man and Bee must be re-examined, so that the Africanized killer bee shows no further mastery.
Sincerely, Y. Sam