THE government plans to introduce Beekeeping Training and Extension Guidelines which will enlighten beekeepers and stakeholders of beekeeping on their responsibilities in the sector.
This was noted here during a recent beekeeping stakeholders meeting hosted by the Director of Forest and Beekeeping in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Dr Ezekiel Mwakalukwa, who said that the government has formed a tenmember team to develop the programme.
“I appeal to beekeeping stakeholders to accord maximum cooperation to the team when it kicks off its duties to collect views for the programme,” said the senior official in the Natural Resources Portfolio.
Dr Mwakalukwa explained that the programme will facilitate the improvement of honey production in the country.
According to the Director, the country has a very big potential in beekeeping due to availability of a good number of forests.
“Tanzania is endowed with 48.1 million hectare of forest reserves, which is equivalent to 54.4 per cent of all the country’s land,” observed the senior officer in the ministry.
Dr Mwakalukwa said while 38 per cent of the forest was under protected area, 57 per cent of the forest reserve was not, adding that six per cent of the forest was in national parks, game reserves and game controlled areas.
He noted that the government through Tanzania Forest Services Agency (TFS) had set up 11 bee reserves in various parts of the country, and that local government authorities had set 14 bee reserves in the villages.
“We came up with the idea to set up bee reserves after the increase of deforestation in the areas due to human activities,” he said.
Dr Mwakalukwa explained that bee reserves serve as a means to protect the forest because beekeepers keep an eye on the natural resources.
