The World Bee Day was yesterday celebrated in Ho of the Volta Region with a call on government and the private sector to promote bee keeping in the country to maximise sustainable honey production in order to boost the country’s agricultural sector.
The Customer Service Officer of the Forestry Commission, Torde Amaglo, who made the call here, emphasised that bee keeping could create sustainable employment for thousands of unemployed Ghanaians, especially the youth.
World Bee Day is celebrated on May 22, every year by countries across the world to highlight the importance of bees in the ecosystem.
The programme, organised by VORAB Project International, an NGO with support from Steminist Foundation Ghana, was on the theme: ‘Be inspired by nature to nourish us all.’
Mr Amaglo, addressing a durbar here to mark the day, said the country needed to come out with a policy that would guide people ready to go into bee keeping.
He stated that bee keeping started in the country in the 1960s, it remained undeveloped and not appealing to the youth.
“A lot of people believed bee as a stinging insect that inflicts pain,” Mr Amaglo stated.
However, he said if not harassed, bees were friendly.
Mr Amaglo pointed out that big industries had been created around bee keeping in some countries through innovation and the art of science.
The Customer Service Officer of the Forestry Commission pledged that the entities promoting bee keeping in Volta and Oti Region would continue to work to develop and promote the industry.
The Executive Director of VORAB Project International, Mr Devine Okoe Odonkor, noted that his outfit decided to join the World Community to celebrate the World Bee Day in view of the positive role bees played in the ecosystem such as facilitating pollination.
He underlined that the programme was to highlight the importance of protecting bees in the lives of humans.
“We cannot continue to harvest honey the traditional way. We need to do things differently and change our mindset as well as commit relevant resources to make bee farming sustainable,” he indicated.
The world is changing and the youth are getting interested in bee keeping since honey is becoming expensive.
The Officer of Steminist Foundation, Ms Nerissa Anku, added that the “Bee industry along its value chain provides livelihoods, employment, creates wealth and alleviates poverty.”
Miss Portia Dogbe, an officer from Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), said that GSA would ensure quality and standards were adhered to in bee keeping in order to help the industry to strive.
FROM YAHAYA NUHU NADAA, SAVELUGU
THE Minister for the Interior, Alhaji Muntaka Mohammed Mubarak, inaugurated a new 24-unit accommodation for the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) in Savelugu Municipality of the Northern Region.
This facility was built by State Housing Company (SHC) and was part of the government efforts to improve the living conditions of security services in the country
Speaking at the inauguration ceremony here on Wednesday, the Interior Minister said in 2016, government acted through the Ghana Immigration Service to enter into an agreement with the State Housing Company for the construction of the building.
He stated that the brain behind it construction was to provide decent accommodation for junior rank officers stationed at the Yakubu Tali International Airport.
The Minister outlined that the new buildings were meant to help solve the accommodation challenges facing the security services in the country, especially the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
“The government is doing its best to ensure that the accommodation challenges facing the
FROM KAFUI GATI, HO
