• Cuba increases its honey exports

By Raisa Pages
Granma International
August 23, 2004

The dew comes to rest on the campanula flowers. The “inspector” bees have traveled two kilometers and returned to the hive to pass on the news. A dance by this marvelous insect will inform the other members of its community how far they need to travel in order to find the springtime discovery and how many members are needed to collect up the nectar.

With a rich and exuberant flora, Cuba is reviving honey production at a time when prices are at their highest in years. Nations that were powerful in terms of exporting this product to the European Union were vetoed, following regulations adopted in 1997 by this community banning the exportation of honey with anti-biotic residues.

Top-quality, fresh Cuban honeys are highly sought after in European nations, where the purity and quality of this Cuban product is employed to improve blends of this foodstuff.

Cuba collected 7,200 tons of honey during 2003, a figure that produced the recuperation of this sector with the best figures in the last 12 years.

Now, in 2004, conditions have been guaranteed to exceed the record figure of more than 10,000 tons achieved in 1993.

Israel Lozada, vice president of the Agricultura de Montaña business group, indicated that the target is to increase the amount of “specific” honey; that is honey produced from one single flowering period.

This year, Cuba looks set to produce more than 700 tons of specific honey from campanula and mangrove plants, products that are highly sought after for their clarity and freshness.

In terms of organic honeys, the island now has the certified potential to sell 1,500 tons, according to specialized European institutions.

Even when the drought has reduced the productive capacity of the provinces from the center to the east of the country, sterling performances by beekeepers in the west have compensated for the deficit stemming from those regions most lacking in rainfall. The southern regions of Matanzas and Havana province, which have not been so greatly affected by the drought, have produced the largest amount of honey in the country.

Israel Lozada stated that the purity of Cuban products is guaranteed by way of biological controls and systematic inspections.

MAKING THE MOST OF TROPICAL LUSHNESS

Research carried out into the current possibilities for honey-producing flora revealed that there are 200,000 hives on the island but only 144,300 are currently functioning, explained Lozada.

The increase in the number of apiaries has been conceived in both a horizontal and vertical sense by increasing the number of containers in order to raise the amount of honey stored.

Dr. Adolfo Rodríguez Piñeiro, director of the National Center for Beekeeping Research, stated that a digitalized geographical information system has been developed to pinpoint where to locate the hives with more precision. This digitalized map of Cuban vegetation will also allow then to know which zones have the greatest amount of space to install more hives.

Lozada and Dr. Pérez Piñeiro both emphasized how improvements in the payment system for the island’s 2,500 plus beekeepers have contributed to the freshness and quality of honey produced. The payment method takes into account the quality and speed with which the product reaches the factory in question.

Within the domestic hard currency network in Cuba, several honey-based cosmetic creams are on sale. Nutritional products such as blended honeys, wax, royal jelly and pollen are also being manufactured.

Currently, the quality control process for honey exports is complex due to the fact that samples must be sent to European laboratories to certify their purity and hygiene. In order to provide a system for the country itself, a facility is under construction with the collaboration of the Honey Laboratory in Bremen, a center of renowned international prestige. German professors are also training Cuban beekeepers in improved methods of apiculture management, a millennial technique that is under constant renewal.