Ljubljana, 13 December – The government decided to establish a beekeeping academy on only a week before the UN General Assembly passed the legislation of Slovenia’s proposal to declare 20 May World Bee Day. The school, which will charge tuition, is an answer to foreign demand for Slovenian beekeeping knowledge, Agriculture Minister Dejan Židan said.
The school will be a part of the Agricultural Institute and will be located in Lukovica at the seat of the Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association. Its establishment is a part of the changes to the Agriculture Act, which the government adopted today.
“The objective is to meet the demand from abroad and pass our knowledge and competence on to others. We will start to market this through the Slovenian beekeeping academy,” Židan told the press after the government session.
The school will be partly funded by the state, while the rest will come from tuition fees, said Židan.
He added that the academy will have a programming committee, which will include among others representatives of the Chemistry Institute, the Ljubljana faculties of biotechnology and veterinary medicine, as well as the Maribor Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Touching on the vote at the UN, Židan said Slovenia’s World Bee Day initiative was approved by the General Assembly. So far, 115 countries signed the initiative, including the US, Russia, Brazil and all EU member states.
The Agriculture Ministry is also preparing a minister-level meeting focusing on the importance of bees, while the Beekeepers’ Association will hold an international conference.
