There’s a hive of activity at the ACTIV Association, involved as it is in a beekeeping pilot project co-funded by the Pacific Funds from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, the French Embassy in Vanuatu and ACTIV.
In early January, the ACTIV Association received 20 hives and is waiting for queens and colonies to get the project started.
The first 10 hives will be installed on Efate with five more on Malekula and five on the island of Epi with cocoa producer groups. They plan to train more women as beekeepers.
Vanuatu has a short history in beekeeping but by introducing the pilot programmes to the island archipelago they hope it can generate income, assist the increase of yields of crops through pollination and reduce reliance on refined sugar.
In addition, they are conscious of keeping the new hives disease free as some of the islands will have been introduced for the first time.
“We need to be careful of keeping the outer islands free of disease when introducing the queens with the colonies as some islands do not have bees,” she said.
The project also has several partners with the Biosecurity Department of the Vanuatu Government, Apis diffusion, a beekeeper from New Caledonia, Gilbert Gibson, a beekeeper living in Vanuatu and Flow hive from Australia who designed innovative bee hives.
Attending Pasifika Festival as part of the PTI Pacific Path to Market delegation was a good first time experience Ms Wallez said.
“We really thank the PTI Pacific Path to Market programme to allow us to attend such an event and having the chance to meet with businesses in New Zealand. It gave us the opportunity to better understand the New Zealand market and the different community expectations.
“We highly recommend this programme to businesses who are interested in exporting to New Zealand. We also have the opportunity to find a new market for the Vanuatu handicrafts with the Auckland War Museum which bought all our remaining stock from the Pasifika Festival.”
Photo: ACTIV Association Facebook