The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) delivered an assortment of tools and equipment to the Ministry of Agriculture as part of their queen rearing initiative to expand the availability of quality queen bees to beekeepers across St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The donation included microscopes, grafting tools, queen catchers and other items required for queen production.
It follows queen rearing training with members of the Division and beekeepers in November 2024, which was conducted by Argentine experts under the API Caribe Initiative.
API Caribe is a Triangular Cooperation project involving IICA, the Argentine Government, and Caribbean countries.
The project was developed by IICA based on common requests made by governments within CARICOM for support in developing their respective Apiculture sectors.
The overall objective of API Caribe is to develop Apiculture as an integrated farming practice, which promotes scientific beekeeping, and enhances the productivity of crops through pollination, while increasing the income and welfare of farmers and the wider society.