One of the UAC-CP’s very first Agronomy graduates Rene Villca (’01) was featured in an article in Bolivia’s daily independent newspaper Página Siete on December 6.  In the article, Villca, who works as the Coordinator of a Beekeeping Project for the Municipality of Coroico, explained how climate change, the use of pesticides on coca crops, and electromagnetic contamination are harming honey production rates in the country. Rene claims that honey production is down 30% across Bolivia.

Rene said that while a bee column previously produced 30-40 kilos of honey per year, now it only produces 20 kilos annually. Much of this he attributes to climate change, which has generated changes in the beginning and end of the seasons and has changed production capacity.

As part of his work, Rene organized a fair in the Municipality of Coroico this month featuring approximately 100 honey producers and their variety of honey-based products.

The full article in Spanish can be read online here.