Armenian beekeepers seek state support as dry climate affects yield
The dry climate of the past couple of years has seriously affected beekeeping industries, essentially reducing the volumes of production.
Speaking to Tert.am, owners of several beekeeping businesses shared their concerns over the poor honey yield.
“There was no honey the year before last; we had some last year but didn’t export even a single kilogram of it to Europe, as our product falls short of meeting European standards,” said Telman Nazaryan, the president of the Beekeepers’ Association of Armenia.
The total honey yield, according to him, is not expected to be more than 100 tons (in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh together).
Nazaryan attributed the poor quantity to the unfavorable climate conditions. “This year we saw hails when we didn’t expect even rain, and whenever we expected rain, we saw the sun shining etc. This year was turned out unlucky, and not favorable for honey,” he noted.
Nazaryan further cited a UN survey which revealed a 60% decrease in the number of bees in Europe and a further 70% decrease in Germany alone.
“The number of bees drops annually by 20%-40% despite the states’ best efforts to boost the sector. And because the things here are in a state of neglect, the number will increase instead of decreasing. The state policies in this direction are limited only to words, but that’s absolutely no use,” he added.
As a possible solution, the association’s president stressed the need of state investments. “We cannot do anything without money. We have territories which are very good for beekeeping, and we can produce eco-honey. All we need is a state support,” he added.
Nazaryan remembered that Armenian beekeepers had been earlier honored with medals in a conference in Kazakhstan. “Their state collaborates with the association of beekeepers. That’s something very important,” he added.
Asked why the honey quality falls below the export standards, Nazaryan said he thinks that it’s because of beekeepers’ failure or unwillingness to follow specified rules. “Europe requests a big quantity of honey. But it isn’t possible to treat a bee with chemical substances and at the same time avoid an impact on the honey quality. It isn’t as though we can cheat Europe. A beekeeper should not use a chemical substance to treat a bee,” he said.
Armen Nazaryan, a leading specialist of the association, agreed that beekeepers often fail to respect the established rules, choosing instead medications as a cheaper method of treating bees.
As for the realization of honey, he said the inability to sell the product at once appears really problematic for beekeepers. “Their money doesn’t come at once as they sell the honey in small quantities,” he noted.
Asked whether the honey yield is enough at least to meet the domestic market demand, Nazaryan replied, “One person is theoretically supposed to consume 80-100 grams of honey per day; that makes up 36 kilograms in annual terms. So the question is, who produces so much honey for one person in Armenia?”
The specialist proposed considering the medical advantages of beekeeping. “The question can be put on rails, as we do seriously have that potential in Armenia,” he added.
Ruslan Poghosyan, a beekeeper from Armenia’s Syunik region, said that the summer drought period negatively affected bees’ productivity. “I personally had 50 % less honey this year. And I hear the yield is even less in other places,” he told our correspondent.
He cited the problem of preventive drugs as a major concern in the sector. “We try to import drugs from abroad, as the drugs here are not effective at all,” he noted.
Another key problem in the area has to do with procurement, the specialist added. “There’s nowhere one can go to hand over the product. And wherever they receive it, the money paid appears too little to cover the cost of our work,” Poghosyan said.
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