Belize Honey Production Re-Development Support Project

Belize has a rich history of beekeeping and honey production. The Mayans were the country’s first beekeepers producing honey from stingless bees, utilising very traditional methods of culturing the insects (primarily hollowed out tree trunks). Honey was a significant dietary supplement for the Mayans and stingless bees remained the main honey-makers until the mid-1900’s when new species were introduced and commercial production of the commodity was initiated.

The invasive Africanized species of bees are themselves heavy makers of honey, but their very aggressive nature render them difficult to manage. The Ministry of Agriculture advised that many beekeepers left the industry because there was a dearth of technical knowledge and capacity to manage the new challenge which Africanised bees presented to honey producers in Belize.

Over time, with technical assistance from external sources, the Ministry of Agriculture was able to enhance its own capacity and then transfer the requisite knowledge to bee-keepers across the country. Beekeepers, who opted to return to the industry gradually began improving their skills in management of Africanized bee apiaries and by 2000, there was a gradual revival of beekeeping. With these efforts, individual beekeepers began recording increased productivity levels. However, other challenges inclusive of issues such as pests and diseases, importation of contraband products of inferior quality into the local market, limited ongoing technical support, aging and decreasing numbers of beekeepers, access to affordable credit, constrained the progress of beekeeping from re-emerging as a sustainably viable industry.

Selection Criteria: Beneficiaries will be chosen based on a series of mandatory and secondary criteria as outlined in the application/nomination document. Please review this document before making the application/nomination.

Selection Criteria for the Honey Production Redevelopment Support Project funded by the Caribbean Development Fund (CDF) and Implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise

 The evaluation of applicants will be undertaken by a technical panel composed of a representative of the following instances:

Representatives of the: Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise; Belize Marketing and Development Corporation and from the Ministry of Economic Development.  The selection of applications will be ratified by the Steering Committee. The process will be evaluated utilizing selection criteria.

Eligibility Criteria

• Farmer must be a Belizean National and provide relevant documentation.
• Farmer must express interest in overall beekeeping.
• Farmer must be minimum of 15 years to qualify for the CDF beekeeping project.
• Farmer must be business-oriented and willing to operate beekeeping as a business model.
• Farmer must have basic knowledge on the importance of bees to agriculture and the environment
• Farmer must not have received previous training on honey production for the past 5 years.
• Farmer must be willing to adopt new techniques and best beekeeping practices.
• Farmer must be committed to expanding production beyond the project life.
• Farmer must have access to suitable forest land to establish its apiary.
• Farmer must be able to adopt basic record keeping.
• Farmer must cooperate with the Ministry of Agriculture/BAHA.

The selected beneficiaries will NOT be required to meet all the requirements but will be evaluated based on the number of criteria that they meet

Application/Nomination forms:

1. The forms can be pickup from the Agriculture Department in your District or downloaded below:

• Honey Project Application Form

Submission of forms:

1. Completed forms can be dropped off at the Agriculture Department in your District or email to nccard@agriculture.gov.bz

Deadline for Application/Nomination: March 20th, 2021