JIS photo
Bee farmer Alex Reid walks next to his boxes situated on lands at the back of Tawes Pen, St Catherine.

Elaine Hartman Reckord, JIS Writer

Although youth unemployment is high, 25-year-old Alex Reid is reaping sweet success from his bee-keeping business in Tawes Pen, St Catherine.

His dream of cultivating honey bees started some years ago when he did a related course, while pursuing an associate degree in agriculture at the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE). However, he only got started two years ago while employed full-time at the St Catherine-based Bodles Agricultural Research Station.

"It was only when I went to Bodles research station that I saw the opportunity to get into that type of activity," he said.

Starting up

After expressing his interest in bee keeping to Reginald Peddy, chief plant protection officer at the apiculture unit at Bodles, he was given technical assistance, as well as a few boxes to start his business.

Today, Reid manages a small bee-keeping business with 23 boxes, with plans of expandingto 55.

During the first six months of this year, he reaped eight five-gallon buckets of honey, which he sold to family members, friends and Zion Roots, his biggest customer.

All this he accomplished while doing part-time studies for his bachelor of technology in agro-production food system management at CASE, which he recently completed.

"It was rough," he said, stating that he would normally get up early, tend to his bees, and then leave for work. He would do the same on weekends before leaving for his classes at CASE.

"With good classmates and good family support as well, encouragement and knowing what you want ... you just have to make up your mind and say this is a worthwhile sacrifice and push through with it," he told JIS.

Storm setback

One setback, he explained, was his recent loss of five boxes, each valued at some $9,000 following the passage of Tropical Storm Gustav.

"It was the first time that I had seen so much flooding throughout Tawes Pen," said Alex. "With Gustav, we were expecting the wind, but that wasn't the case; this time it was really the water that affected us the most."

Even though the boxes were two feet above the ground, which is the required height, the water rose beyond the level of the boxes. By the time he realised what was happening, it was too late.

All his boxes would have been damaged had they been in the same location. At the time of the storm, he was carrying out an experiment to increase honey production, which involved having the boxes in different locations.

Although the honey production from the bees near the canal is good, Reid said he noticed greater level of honey production from the bees on his roof.

"I do not have the theory as to why they are performing well, but I am able to get about four or five harvests from them and the pollen collection is much better than other locations," he revealed.

Increasing production

The young farmer also plans to increase his queen bees because of the lucrative market overseas.

According to Alex, one queen bee costs approximately US$100 (J$7,300), while the unmated ones are sold for about US$30-US$40 (J$2,190 to J$2,920).

He informed JIS that due to a recent problem in the United States, whereby queen bees were leaving their hives, the markets were now open and overseas farmers were being encouraged to purchase queen bees.

Reid still finds time to share his knowledge with youths in the community and give beekeeping tips to some of his colleagues.

One young man has already started his own bee business.

"Now and again I visit him to see that he is doing the right thing," he said proudly. "It is a lucrative business, so I would encourage young persons to get into it. It doesn't take up much of your time, so you are able to allocate the time in doing something else, just ensure that they are healthy and are finding food."

The only drawbacks, said Reid, were start-up capital and the high cost of boxes.

Other activities

Despite his busy schedule, he finds time for other activities. Currently, Reid is the public relations officer for the Tawes Pen Citizens' Association and the president of the Young Leaders in Action Club in the community. He is also a member of the Bee Farmers Association.

He said the youth club recently launched a product called 'Build Back', a peanut-based Soya drink.

"We are working on that now. We need to get it out on the market, at least in the Spanish Town community first, to know how well the response is," he said.

This feature is a special collaboration between The Gleaner Company and the Jamaica Information Service.