Twenty pure Italian Queen Bees have been reintroduced back into Fiji after 20 years.

The Queen Bees were imported into Fiji under the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) Bees Project in May this year with ten queens to be kept by the Ministry of Agriculture and the remaining ten given to the Fiji Beekeepers Association.

While officiating the handing over of the improved bee genetics to bee farmers in Legalega recently, the Minister for Agriculture Hon. Dr. Mahendra Reddy said that the project would certainly boost honey production and income for farmers.

“Prior to the release of these bees, the stock was quarantined on Makogai Island for 90 days to assess the performance of the imported strains and to reduce the risk of introducing highly contagious diseases that could have devastating effects on the local colonies,” said Minister Reddy.

“Through this release, we expect honey production to substantially increase after introducing these improved bee genetics on the bee farms.

“There is a total of 1,258 farmers in Fiji with approximately 13,906 hives, of this number 600 farms with 8,185 hives are based in the West and I am pleased to note that the total honey produced in 2021 was 255 tonnes but we can do better,” said Minister Reddy.

During the 90-day quarantine period, it was found that the bees were very calm and easy to work with, had good foraging compared to the local cross breeds we have here in Fiji and had good brood and laying patterns which would eventually lead to a good bee population in the colony.

This 20 F1 and another 9 original Queen Bees will be released to bee farmers for gene pool improvement in the country.

Meanwhile, selected bee farmers were also given solar wax melters and wax embossing machines to help bee farmers process bees' wax and also enable the production of wax foundation sheets respectively.

“The Ministry is anticipating that with this initiative, the farmers will upscale their production and will be able to achieve higher honey production per hive and also increase wax production which will bring additional income,” said Minister Reddy.

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