A four-day training for beekeepers in two local communities in the West Coast Region ended at the weekend at the Ecotourism Camp in Tanji bird reserve.
The training, which brought together participants from Mandinary and Brufut communities, was organised by the Department of Forestry and funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The training was among others meant to enhance participants on beekeeping and market analysis and development for community-based tree and forest enterprise development.
The objectives of the training were to develop the capacity of fifty communities’ forest committees, Joint Forest Participatory Management (JFPM) committee in beehive setting at regional level in the West Coast Region and Central River Region (CRR) and to develop their capacity on market analysis and development approach using the experience of market analysis and development applications in the regions.
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Cherno Gaye, head of the organizing team at the department of forestry, commended the participants for responding to their call, saying their active participation in the training is a clear indication of their commitment.
He noted that the importance attached to the training cannot be over-emphasised in the sense that at the end of the training, it is expected the trainees would have a broad understanding of the overall beekeeping and market analysis and development process and its underlining principles.
For his part, Amadou Ceesay, lead facilitator of the training, dilated on the significance of beekeeping business, saying the labour involved is very minimal and it is a viable business that can earn one a lot of income within a very short period of time.
He also stressed the need for people to involve in the beekeeping business for the development of the country.
