{"id":2594,"date":"2019-06-21T01:01:41","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T01:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/?p=2594"},"modified":"2021-05-20T14:58:39","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T14:58:39","slug":"why-cuban-honey-bees-are-thriving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/why-cuban-honey-bees-are-thriving\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Cuban Honey Bees are Thriving"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"747\" height=\"448\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/honey.jpeg?resize=747%2C448&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2595\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/honey.jpeg?w=750&amp;ssl=1 750w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/honey.jpeg?resize=300%2C180&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 747px) 100vw, 747px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Matanzas province of Cuba, there\u2019s a penchant for old-fashioned agriculture, which means\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/manukahoneyusa.com\/category\/honey-bees\/\">honey bees<\/a>\u00a0can forage and swarm without pesticides affecting their survivability, as they have been elsewhere throughout the world. It\u2019s safe to say that life is pretty great for Cuba\u2019s tiny pollinators, with one man, Rogelio Marcelo Fundora\u2014a mechanical engineer and one of Cuba\u2019s best beekeepers\u2014saying of his country\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/manukahoneyusa.com\/category\/honey-bees\/\">bees<\/a>, \u201cThe bee is made neither for urban areas nor rural areas. It is made for the mountains.\u201d Rogelio, 51, and his brother, Santiago, 54, own 600 beehives in a valley east of Havana, where they produced 80 tons of honey last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While many countries around the world are seeing declining bee populations thanks to pesticides, disease, and agriculture, Cuba has had an easier time maintaining high environmental standards since the 1990s collapse of the Soviet Union, which previously provided the Communist nation with pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers. Without that integral support, Cuba was forced to come up with natural alternatives, leading them to use almost none of the chemicals that are so damaging to honey bee populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Average honey production in Cuba is around 112 pounds (50 kilos) for every hive, but the Fundora brothers have yields as high as 160 kilos per hive. \u201cThere\u2019s no miracle, just a lot of work,\u201d Santiago said. \u201cIt\u2019s endless work to change out the queen, select the bees.\u201d From the 21 apiaries they own in Navajas, a village several hours from Havana, the Fundora brothers extract honey they claim is completely \u201cclean\u201d or chemical free. In addition to being clean, as per Adolfo Perez, who heads the Apicultural Research Center, the quality of Cuba\u2019s honey is excellent. \u201cBecause of the tendency to use very little chemicals, we can say that the honey of Cuba is almost all organic honey,\u201d Perez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Cuba\u2019s countryside, honey bees have no great human threat or natural risk, and they enjoy year-round summer humidity and temperatures that ensure a permanent flower supply. \u201cWe don\u2019t use any chemicals when fumigating apiaries or weeding,\u201d Santiago said, and this is in addition to having \u201cno antibiotics,\u201d thanks to the products being hard to get due to the U.S. trade embargo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the Fundora brothers, harvest time means they head to their hives in their old truck\u2014aptly named Frankenstein\u2014along with eight workers, who are paid 80 dollars per month (50 above Cuba\u2019s national average). Nearly every one of them wears a military uniform, as its camouflage pattern keeps the bees from getting excited and its material is strong. They then spend their day gathering honeycombs and putting them into mechanical centrifuges that separate the honey and the wax. Unfortunately, this is one key shortcoming in Cuba\u2019s apicultural integrity\u2014the equipment is, according to Rogelio, \u201ca little archaic. We need an efficient centrifuge to extract the honey, and the truck is very old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/manukahoneyusa.com\/why-cuban-honey-bees-are-thriving\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/manukahoneyusa.com\/why-cuban-honey-bees-are-thriving\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Manuka Honey<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Matanzas province of Cuba, there\u2019s a penchant for old-fashioned agriculture, which means\u00a0honey bees\u00a0can forage and swarm without pesticides affecting their survivability, as they have<a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/why-cuban-honey-bees-are-thriving\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101011,"featured_media":2595,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cuba"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2729,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/why-cuba-produces-only-organic-honey-and-exports-it-to-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":0},"title":"Why Cuba produces only organic honey and exports it to the world","author":"Editorial Team","date":"April 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"La Isla Bonita has long been unable to afford pesticides, so, it is now immune to declining bee populations, its natural environment is pristine, and the production of organic honey has become one of the country\u2019s key agricultural exports. Cuba produced as much as 7,200 tonnes of organic honey in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cuba&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cuba","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/cuba\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/honey-4-cuba-arnie.jpg?fit=980%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/honey-4-cuba-arnie.jpg?fit=980%2C490&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/honey-4-cuba-arnie.jpg?fit=980%2C490&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/honey-4-cuba-arnie.jpg?fit=980%2C490&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8628,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/cuban-bees\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":1},"title":"CUBAN BEES","author":"Editorial Team","date":"March 5, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Award winning Documentary is coming to Dublin, with special guest Daniesky Asosta film maker of Cuban bees! https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XpR4g3vgGNE This engaging documentary uncovers Cuba\u2019s commitment to organic and sustainable beekeeping, where local beekeepers avoid chemical contaminants, benefitting both the bee population and the broader ecosystem. Shaped by decades of economic restrictions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Featured&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Featured","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/news\/featured\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2025-03-05-at-10.07.43.png?fit=742%2C405&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2025-03-05-at-10.07.43.png?fit=742%2C405&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2025-03-05-at-10.07.43.png?fit=742%2C405&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/Screenshot-2025-03-05-at-10.07.43.png?fit=742%2C405&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2586,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/cuban-beekeepers-are-in-good-productive-moment\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":2},"title":"Cuban beekeepers are in good productive moment","author":"Editorial Team","date":"August 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Cuba's beekeepers have favorably fulfilled the plan for the production of honey, beeswax and propolis after the first six months of 2020 concluded, it was reported in this Cuban province.Bruno Garcia, general director of the Cuban beekeeping company (APICUBA), told Prensa Latina that the respective productions of these three products\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Cuba&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Cuba","link":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/category\/cuba\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/wp-content\/uploads\/bees-in-cuba.jpeg?fit=474%2C323&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8395,"url":"https:\/\/www.cubasupport.ie\/latest\/how-palestinians-are-becoming-doctors-in-cuba-for-free-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":2594,"position":3},"title":"How Palestinians Are Becoming Doctors in Cuba For Free","author":"Editorial Team","date":"February 26, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"What are the similarities between Cuba and Palestine? 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