DA to promote bee culture to boost fruit production

To help in producing more orchard fruits, the Department of Agriculture (DA) will support and promote the bee culture or apiculture industry, the agency said Sunday. Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala made this commitment in a meeting of apiculture industry stakeholders earlier this month at the National Apiculture Research, Training, and Development Institute (NARTDI) at the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University in Bacnotan, La Union, the DA said in a statement. Apiculture is key not only in producing honey and other by-products, but also in fruit production and organic agriculture “since it is an effective method of enhancing flower and fruit production the natural way," according to Alcala. Alcala also serves as board chair of NARTDI, which promotes apiculture in the Philippines, and trains interested beekeepers, apiculturists, and other industry stakeholders. Honey imports DA-Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) director Efren Nuestro noted that the Philippines imports natural and artificial honey at about 400 metric tons (MT) annually to augment its local production of around 150 MT. The importation aims to fill the needs of households, hotels, restaurants, and other institutions for honey. A DA-BAI apiculturist, Elmer Esplana added that apiculture has a huge potential in the Philippines. A conservative per capita consumption of one spoon of honey daily will require at least 728,175 MT annually, Esplana said. The top five apiculture sites in the Philippines are the Cordilleras, Ilocos, Cagayan, Central Visayas, and Southern Tagalog. — Paterno Esmaquel II/LBG, GMA News