• Submitted by: manso
• Business and Economy
• 08 / 28 / 2010

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CIEGO DE AVILA, Cuba, Aug 27 (acn) Beekeepers in coastal areas of the province of Ciego de Avila contributed more than US$100,000 to the Cuban economy in the period from June to the present with the collection of 50 tons of honey.

Such production was achieved after placing some 2,000 beehives in areas of the south and north coast of the province, according to Vladimir Echemendia,director of the beekeeping unit in the province.

The strategy was grounded on the fact that bees can extract larger amounts of pollen from flowering plants that bloom in those areas this time of the year.

The tactic of moving apiaries from their places of origin to the coast was also due to the deficit of flowers in areas that had traditionally been a source of high volumes of nectars.

According to Echemendia, since 2008, when the island was hit by three major hurricanes, the wet season has been affected by droughts, high temperatures and other climate factors.

He said adverse weather conditions have caused among other consequences a late blooming, this year and in 2009, of the purple and white bellflower which provide the largest amounts of pollen in the island.

The apiaries located in the Cayo Coco and Cayo Guillermo keys, Turigano Island and woods of the coastal municipality of Venezuela will be left there until the end of the month.

More than 2,300 queen bees were reproduced in a Ciego de Avila-based genetic center. These bees are used in the province and other regions of the country.

Source: ACN