COUNTRY CALENDAR: PAPUA NEW GUINEA BEES

COUNTRY CALENDAR - Em Nambuwan - Sweet Kai
High in the rugged mountains of Papua New Guinea is the Eastern Highlands Province and the villages surrounding Goroka. Drying coffee beans is a familiar sight in this region where coffee provides work and income for many of the one and a half million people. [Kaukau] a root vegetable similar to the kūmara, is their staple diet.
Bee Keeper Gavin McKenzie of Waimate has almost completed his 4 year assignment to set up a bee keeping pilot project in Papua New Guinea. The project comes under the wing of the Department of Primary Industry or DPI.
At the DPI hives Gavin has trained both potential bee keepers and government extension officers who will oversee the industry when Gavin finishes his assignment.
One of the many locations the DPI apiaries are found is the Tobacco Farm. The Highland farms have been found to be particularly suitable because of the temperate climate, which allows for good quality honey production.
The project has developed into the beginnings of a bee keeping industry and today the industry supplies almost enough honey for the whole of New Guinea
From 500 queen bees originally sent from New Zealand, their offspring are now producing honey at almost double the New Zealand rate. The extraction and processing of honey collected, is shown.