Beekeeping workshops in Rashayya and in Baalbaq

Afaq Association- Center for Development of Rashayya and West Beqaa organized last week a seminar on techniques and mechanisms to develop the beekeeping and honey processing industry in the villages and towns of Rashayya. Attended by heads of agricultural, beekeepers and farmers associations, the workshop sought to shed light on the importance of developing the beekeeping sector with focus on its environmental, economic and health viability. Secretary of the Beekeeping Cooperative in Kfeir and neighboring areas, Majid Halabi, tackled in his intervention the diseases and pests affecting bee incubators as well as treatment and prevention methods. He hailed the attention given by the Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayeb to “improve, support and protect the industry through a resurgence plan that notes the economic gains of processing and producing honey in numerous villages across Lebanon.” 

Furthermore, the Lebanese Association for Alternative Agriculture held a training session on ‘Bee Diseases’ at the social care center in Baalbaq. The workshop was organized in collaboration with the USAID funded Lebanon—Industry Value Chain Development (LIVCD), with participation of beekeepers from Baalbaq and surroundings. Engineer Jad Mahd pointed out during the event to the various bee diseases, particularly those affecting the incubator through infecting the immature stages of a honey bee. Mahd also mentioned virus borne and fungal diseases and ways of treating them, in addition to the Varroa Destructor mites that fatally attack the honey bee. Towards the end of the workshop, beekeeping aide tools and equipment were distributed to beneficiaries. (Al Mustaqbal, September 4, 2015)