Visayas, Mindanao ‘suitable’ for bees, honey production

Sun.Star Cebu <> Saturday, May 30, 2009

BY NANCY R. CUDIS, Sun.Star Staff Reporter

A US-based company put up a subsidiary in Cebu to encourage locals to take advantage of the weather in the Visayas and Mindanao, which is suitable for raising bees.

Bee farming can be a good source of income, said Abel Echon of Inter-Global Network Group LLC (IGNG).

The firm wants to educate Filipinos how to establish and manage bee farms in their backyard to produce honey.

Echon said there is high demand in the international market for honey. He said the demand could reach 300 to 400 tons a year.

However, due to “lack of government support and poor marketing system,” he said the Philippines has been producing less honey. This is why IGNG has to look at other tropical countries, like Indonesia and Vietnam, as source of honey.

Apart from educating the masses on the important role of bees, IGNG also produces its own line of “clinically-validated” bee products, including Honey Pollen, Royal Propollen Blend, Raw Pollen and Pollen C.

“We want the honey (for our products) to come from the Philippines, which is home to unique, healthy and endemic bees. This is why we set up headquarters here to teach people the techniques in beekeeping. And my company will buy their produce,” Echon said.

Echon is founder and chief executive officer of IGNG whose local office, I-Global Network Philippines Inc., is located on Gen. Maxilom Ave., Cebu City.

I-Global—with the University of the Philippines Los Baños as partner—will conduct a six-week beekeeping training program at a “minimal cost.” The program already includes a hands-on practicum that will kick off the beekeeping business of training participants.

Without stating investment figures, Echon said the return on investment for the venture would be about eight months.

“The Visayas and Min-danao (have more) potentials for beekeeping compared to Luzon where bee farmers would likely lose
30 percent of their operations to typhoons,” he added.

I-Global is eyeing to train 3,000 people in Cebu for beekeeping this year.

Since it opened in Cebu, the company has registered at least 6,000 independent distributors to market their organic and natural products to companies and persons who interested in food, food supplements, and health and wellness.

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