Manufacturing
The Answer to Pitcairn's Woes?
Isolation Helps Fledgling Honey Industry
When you live on an isolated Pacific island, how do you make a cash income? That’s long been a pressing economic problem for islanders who can’t rely on the coconut tree for produce — and even some who do.
Pitcairn Island has been particularly susceptible to this problem. It is truly isolated, off the normal shipping track, has few acres suitable for agriculture and no airfield. For years, islanders have made a slender living off of subsistence agriculture, souvenir sales and government stamp sales. Schemes have been tried to help the economy, such as drying the famous Pitcairn fruit (oranges, pineapples and bananas) and selling it in New Zealand. But nothing has taken off, primarily due to the lack of scheduled shipping.
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Now, a relatively new industry — honey — may bring some prosperity to the island, at least in a limited way. For one thing, isolation works to the advantage of beekeepers on Pitcairn. It means that the bees already brought in (1978 and 1992) are certified pure and disease-free. Strict laws on the island prohibit bringing in any outside honey or used beekeeping supplies. These are aimed at keeping this bee population the purest in the world. The bees, which currently inhabit 30 hives, are known as “Italian Yellow” in non-Latin terms.
These bees are described as particularly placid. Since they are of a mild disposition, and contain no diseases, one business possibility is the export of live queen bees. In order to placate foreign agriculture agencies with doubts as to the healthy status of the honey or bees, the Pitcairn government has appointed a trained islander, Jay Warren, as a quarantine officer. All shipments must receive a special quarantine clearance from Warren.
For the present, however, a limited amount of Pitcairn honey is marketed. A number of islanders have formed the Pitcairn Island Producers Cooperative (PIPCO) in an effort to increase and organize production.
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The honey business is a labor-intensive operation, as honey is placed manually into 250 gram bottles for export. It is estimated that about 3,000 bottles a year can be produced — a modest amount, to be sure, but one that shows the potential of this industry. The current available supply seems to have found a ready market, as supply and demand are about equal.
These bottles bear a beautifully-designed cap and label, showing flowers, a bee, the “Bounty” and the island in the background. It was created by Sue Williams, wife of the governor of Pitcairn.
It is estimated that if the market were to expand, up to 300 hives could be accommodated on the island. The rich, fruity taste of the honey could then be experienced worldwide. This distinctive taste is attributed to the mango, lotus, passion fruit, guava and roseapple flowers that flourish in the rich volcanic soil of Pitcairn.
The Pitcairn government is making it easy to order this gourmet condiment. Each bottle is priced at US $5, which includes postage. But you don’t have to write Pitcairn, where letters take months to arrive even under the best circumstances. Instead, orders can be sent to PIPCO, Box 105696, Auckland, New Zealand. The Auckland office communicates with Pitcairn via e-mail and cashes checks or debits credit cards when the Pitcairn administration informs them that the honey has been shipped. It sometimes takes a few months because of the uncertainty of ship visits.
The Pitcairn government is promoting honey exports as a way to help stop the gradual decline in the population. Two years ago, the government issued four postage stamps and a special souvenir sheet to advertise the industry. Stamp collectors, take note: this issue of stamps was the world’s first to combine a hexagonal shape with a self-adhesive back. Now that’s a creative way to promote a beehive.
