The beekeepers move in closer to the instructor, Ali Yasin, as he prepares to plant some queen bees. Yasin, a beekeeper himself and an expert in cultivating queens, holds up a honeycomb and explains how he prepared it in order to reap a good batch.

Yasin is a trainer on agricultural technics at the Ministry of Agriculture and he frequently runs these beekeeping workshops. The apiary farmers who are participating have an intermediate level of knowledge, and these theoretical and practical workshops will increase their expertise and their farms productivity. Along with planting queens, the farmers are shown apiary management and how to recognize and treat diseases.

“This (UNIFIL-supported) project is divided into two parts: the first part is the theoretical training on using modern means for breeding bees,” says Yasin. “The second part is focused on reproducing queen bees and also teaching the beekeepers about the reproduction of queen bees.”

This capacity-building project, implemented by UNIFIL’s Civil Affairs Office in collaboration with the Bint Jbeil Union of Municipalities, reached 200 beekeepers in the districts around Bint Jbeil and Marjayoun. In order to support the local community, UNIFIL also donated apiary equipment to the At Tiri Agriculture Services Centre, which implemented this project on the ground, for training and developing the beekeeping field.

This is the first time UNIFIL implemented this kind of project supporting local farmers in UNIFIL’s area of operations in south-western Lebanon. The latest project, for which UNIFIL donated more than $17,000, started in April and completed in October 2016, training the aspiring local entrepreneurs for three months in-between. As a local partner, Bint Jbeil Union of Municipalities contributed more than $6,500.

UNIFIL attaches great importance to deepening relations with the local population among whom its peacekeepers operate. One of several facets to this relationship is to provide or facilitate assistance to the extent possible.

Samir Ashkar, a beekeeper and participant in the workshops said, “I did not have prior knowledge about breeding queen bees. For some reason, the queen would die and we could not find an alternative. We have now been introduced to a scientific way of beekeeping. Our knowledge was limited at the beginning and this training has helped us to improve and develop our expertise. This will help us to improve and develop the productivity at our apiaries.”

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Article: Aoibheann O'Sullivan
Video Editor: Suzane Badereddine, Mohamad Hamze
Video Camera: Mohamad Hamze
Photo: Pasqual Gorriz
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