00:00 (gentle music)
00:02 Aussies love Fiji.
00:07 And what's not to love?
00:08 The country is an archipelago of more than 300 islands
00:13 with tree-lined beaches, crystal clear water, coral reefs,
00:17 and of course, that incredible hospitality.
00:20 The two countries also share important trade
00:23 and investment ties.
00:25 And Fiji is one of our closest neighbors.
00:29 (gentle music)
00:31 At a hotel in Nandi, Pacific neighbors are coming together
00:36 in unusual resort attire to share their knowledge
00:39 about a vital agricultural industry.
00:42 This is the inaugural Pacific Islands Beekeeping Congress.
00:49 - So we slowly put this back.
00:52 - And in the middle of all the buzz
00:54 is the man affectionately nicknamed Queen Bee
00:57 by some, Australian scientist and academic Cooper Shuton.
01:02 - I fell in love with beekeeping.
01:04 I was at high school, I got a job with a local beekeeper
01:08 and I was basically trying to help mom pay the bills.
01:10 I fell in love with how fascinating they are
01:13 and fell in love with being in the forest.
01:14 And then from there, when I was doing my honors degree,
01:17 I really realized how amazing beekeeping is
01:19 and it has the ability to be able to generate income
01:22 for people without damaging the environment.
01:24 So I was able to connect that love of the environment
01:26 with helping people.
01:27 - That's what this Congress is all about,
01:31 improving the profitability and productivity
01:34 of beekeeping in the region.
01:36 - And this wax has been melted up to 68 degrees.
01:39 - It's the culmination of a project funded
01:41 by the Australian Center
01:43 for International Agricultural Research
01:46 and led by Southern Cross University.
01:48 - Yeah, you can see the cracks in the middle.
01:50 - A project that rolls out research and training
01:54 in everything from biosecurity and breeding
01:57 to livestock management and marketing.
02:00 - Smoke it, whatever, you leave it.
02:03 - And empowers the local industry,
02:06 especially women and young people, to lead the way.
02:10 - Leave it.
02:11 - Leave it.
02:12 - Time again.
02:12 - Four minutes.
02:13 - And this isn't about handing out, it's about helping out.
02:16 It's about working with people overseas
02:17 and we've seen beekeeping programs happening
02:20 in many developing countries and they just don't work.
02:22 The research that we've done shows
02:23 if you give 100 beekeepers some beehives
02:25 and a week of training and come back in two or three years,
02:28 you'd be lucky to have one or two of them left.
02:30 So our research is really trying to understand process
02:32 to actually make these programs sustainable
02:34 so that when the program ends,
02:36 the beekeeping industries have got a lot more strength
02:38 and sustainability to grow themselves.
02:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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