FG Trains Beekeepers On Honeybee Queen Rearing, Pollination Services

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security  has trained beekeepers in Ogun State on how to rear queen bees for pollination services.
The farmers were also trained on the use of pollination equipment in fruit and vegetable farms for effective crop yield and increase in fruit and vegetable production.
The Director, Federal Department of Agriculture, Abubakar Abdullahi, said the training was meant to guide farmers on the best practice to manage bee collonies, which serve as agent of pollination service in crop yield.
Abdullahi, who was represented at the training by the Deputy Director, Horticulture, Mrs Omotosho Agbani, made this known Wednesday at a one-day workshop in Abeokuta.
He said the capacity development for the farmers was a key component activity towards achieving the goal of food and nutrition security and import substitution of the Federal Government.
He described honeybee as one of the most economically important insects in agricultural economy that renders pollination services, producing honey and other hive products.
He said honeybees, which are small but mighty creatures, play an indispensable role in pollination that directly impacts our food systems, biodiversity, enhancing sustainable livelihood and overall environmental health.
“Proper pollination, via bees activities, improves the quantity and quality of fruits, vegetables, nuts, oil and other crops it also produces.
“This leads to the promotion of honeybee pollination service value chain in order to aid increase in yield and quality of crops of our farmers”, Abdullahi said.
Also speaking, the Ogun  coordinator, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Mrs Patience Ayo-Ajayi, said that bee farmers play a vital role in the lives of so many people in terms of production of quality honey in place of artificial sugar and also bee products.
Ayo-Ajayi  stressed the importance of honeybee pollination in agriculture, saying, bee pollination has played a successful role on crops, particularly on fruits and vegetables crops, which help the crops to flourish and yield bountifully.
According to her, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, has made food security a major agenda that must be achieved.
The Chairman Federation of Beekeepers Association of Nigeria, Mr Elijah Asade, in Ogun State, commended the Federal Government for building their capacity on honeybee queen rearing and pollination service.
Asade said the training would help to boost production and increase the income of the farmers.
The resource person, Mr Samuel Agboola, said the purpose of the training was to enable beekeepers to use honeybee to achieve the success in agricultural economy, through bee pollination of crops.
Abgboola further spoke on the importance of bee pollination to crops.
He described honeybee queen rearing as the controlled process of raising queen bees from selected larvae.
He  said effective bee pollination on crops would result in healthier crops, larger yield and higher quality produce.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Mr Oreyemi Adenola and Mr Lateef Sanni, thanked the Federal Government for the training.
They described the training as an eye-opener and promised to effectively make use of all they learnt to make impact on their farms.
They also assured the federal government that they would see positive result in crop yield and other productions.