Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer

Lucea, Hanover:

President of the Hanover Bee Farmers' Association, Lorene Holness Muir, is urging youngsters in the parish to capitalise on benefits from what she described as the lucrative bee-keeping industry.

Mrs. Holness Muir made her comments during an address to the regular monthly meeting of the Hanover Parish Development Committee, in Lucea, on Tuesday.

"Many of our young people are not interested in the agriculture done by our fathers and grandfathers. But when you talk about bee-keeping, it is something that could be attractive to a number of young people, because bee-keeping is not a labour-intensive exercise and you don't have to have a lot of land to rear bees," Mrs. Muir said.

"The United Kingdom needs loads of containers of honey that the small number of bee-farmers in Jamaica are unable to produce. The United States market is also in need of large amounts of honey and we are unable to supply them," she added.

The Hanover Bee Farmers president said that a programme aimed at getting more young farmers in the industry would be pursued in collaboration with the parishe's Youth Council in the new year.