The economic and health potential of the Geographical Indication (GI) of Arroira honey from the North of Minas will be the main topic presented and discussed during the 20th Beekeeping Seminar of the North of Minas. This meeting will be promoted by Codewasf this Thursday (19) at the Brazilian Bar Association Event Space in Montes Claros (MG).
About a thousand participants are expected, including beekeepers, students, rural producers, agricultural technicians, equipment suppliers, financial agents and directors of public and private entities. The program will be telecast on Codevasf YouTube channel.
The economic and social success of beekeeping in the north of Minas is celebrated by Marco Camara, Superintendent of the First Regional Superintendency of CODWASF, based in MOC. He cites the company’s work which benefits approximately two thousand families of small rural producers with a production of approximately 1,100 tons of honey per year.
Camara emphasizes that this entire annual production brings in approximately R$15 million for Minas Gerais beekeepers. “We are improving our work and will continue to invest in this activity of developing local productive systems,” he stressed.
According to the beekeeping work report produced by CODWASF technicians in Minas Gerais, the north of Minas has a diversity of vegetation that, even with water restrictions, achieves honey production in line with the national average productivity.
“This diversity of bee pasture allows the production of different honeys, such as honey from aroira, pequi, sipo-uwa and others. This adds to the ease and quality of organic production which has already reached national and international markets. This is just two years after obtaining Geographical Indication (GI) registration for Aroeira honey”, explains agronomist Alex Damier, head of the Codvasf Territorial Development Unit in Montes Claros.
With the 20th edition of the Northern Minas Gerais Beekeeping Seminar, Codwasf wants to deepen the discussion about the Geographical Indication (GI) of Aroeira honey as well as the progress in the production chain. Issues related to bee health, commercialization and production diversification will be covered through lectures.
Codewasf’s partners in coordinating the event are the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development (MIDR); Senar/Femg; Cooperative of beekeepers and family farmers of Sabre, Amator/MG and Northern Minas (Coupamapi).
Schedule
The opening of the 20th Northern Minas Beekeeping Seminar will be at 9 am, and the closing will be at 4:30 pm. The first lecture will be on “Progress, challenges and next steps in the implementation of the designation of origin of arroya honey from the north of Minas”, given by Carlos Terrason, Technician of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). Next, at 11 a.m., beekeeping expert, Senar Technician, Franklin Souza, will talk about major honey bee pests, management and control.
In the afternoon, from 1:30 p.m., communications consultant María Ribeiro and the Coupamapi Board will give a lecture on how beekeepers need to communicate. At 2:30 pm, Romulo Lage, regional coordinator of the Minas Gerais Agricultural Institute (IMA), will talk about the conscious use of agricultural pesticides and the connection with beekeeping.
Concluding the seminar, which starts at 3:15 pm, consultant Lucas Raad will talk about propolis production. After this, there will be an evaluation of the meeting and presentation of proposals for actions in favor of this productive segment.