Vocational schools from two Moldovan settlements start registration for specialties beekeeping, berries' production

Chisinau, 20 July /MOLDPRES/ - The vocational schools from Bubuieci (Chisinau municipality) and Nisporeni (central region), - the only ones from Moldova which train handicraftsmen for the beekeeping sector and the one of production of berries, have started the registration of pupils for the 2019-2020 school year in July. The schools said the young people should be interested in such professions, as the concerned fields had had a constant growth in the last years.    

The Bubuieci-based vocational school has remained the only vocational school of Moldova to educate handicraftsmen in the apicultural sector. To meet the requirements, the institution, with the help of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), endowed its rooms and education workshops with advanced equipments, presently used by professional bee-keepers. The director of the vocational school from Bubuieci, Zinaida Sajin, said that the handicraftsmen in apiculture were high-demanded, as a bee-keeper owning at least 100 beehives already needs help in his/her bee garden. “At the same time, the schools’ graduates, who are educated, with abilities and knowledge, can start their own businesses, and there are tens of examples of our graduates who presently have their own bee gardens,” Zinaida Sajin said.        

In the context, during this school year, the Nisporeni-based vocational school will launch, for the first time ever in Moldova, a syllabus on studying the profession of cultivator of berries. This sector, which has recorded a quick growth in the last years, faces lack of qualified workers – a thing confirmed by the Association „Pomușoarele Moldovei” (Moldova’s Berries). To ensure the training of cultivators of berries, the school was endowed with equipment provided by USAID.   

The professions of bee-keeper and cultivator of berries are studied during two years and, on this period, pupils are supplied with hostel, scholarship and nourishment.

At present, 7,300 bee-keepers are officially registered in Moldova. One bee-keeper owns an average of 32 bee families. During 2006-2018, the honey production has increased about ten-fold. At the same time, starting from 2013 till 2018, the area planted with berries, all over Moldova, grew by 3-4 per cent annually, from 1,000 to 4,000 hectares. Estimations show that about 800 producers of berries work in Moldova.