Enab Baladi – Zeinab Dawwa
In recent years, beekeeping has faced numerous challenges that led many beekeepers to withdraw from the profession. This can be attributed to several factors, including the fees imposed by the previous regime’s checkpoints, rising production costs, and a decrease in bee populations due to climatic factors, in addition to a decline in honey consumption due to its high prices.
Some beekeepers were forced to sell part of their hives because they could not market their production.
After several years of relative stagnation in beekeeping, the sector has regained about 80% of its activity as beekeepers return to their work and more Syrians engage in this profession, despite the low productivity of beehives due to weather conditions, according to Abdul Rahman Qaranfla, a member of the Arab Beekeepers Union and a beekeeper, as stated to Enab Baladi.
Qaranfla noted that beekeeping is an ancient practice in Syrian society, with around 650,000 beehives spread across the Syrian provinces, employing approximately 35,000 Syrian families.
The beekeeping sector was damaged during years of war, with Syria losing about 85% of its total bee population between 2011 and 2020, while beekeeping flourished in areas outside the previous regime’s control.
Drought threatens production
Abdul Rahman Qaranfla, a member of the Arab Beekeepers Union, mentioned that bees are significantly affected by climatic changes that are becoming more intense each day.
Qaranfla explained that beekeeping is impacted by extreme weather conditions, and this year Syria experienced an almost dry winter and sudden temperature fluctuations, which negatively affected bee performance during the almond and citrus seasons. The areas rich in flowering wild plants and crops like anise and black seed have decreased, making it unlikely to expect good production this year.
Issam Muhammad, a beekeeper from Tartus, told Enab Baladi that this season’s results are not good compared to last year due to the drought, adding that bee fatalities will impact the consumer, as honey will decrease in the market and its price will rise.
The beekeeper stated that in previous years, beekeepers faced significant losses due to low sales while the prices for hives, medications, sugar, and transportation increased, and they were not granted suitable loans to assist them in their operations.
Hussein Ali, who works in beekeeping in Homs governorate, appeared pessimistic about honey production this year, stating that the prices offered by traders do not correspond to costs and beekeepers might sell at a loss due to declining marketing.
Some beekeepers returned to their profession in Homs governorate, but they face problems related to the high prices of beekeeping supplies, and this year shows a weakness in bee activity, which could affect productivity, according to Ali.
The amount of honey produced by bees depends on various complex factors, including the availability of nectar and pollen plants, the stability of climatic conditions, the health of the bees, and the species of bees and their ability to adapt to climate changes, as well as the purchasing power of consumers and various marketing factors.
Challenges facing beekeepers
Beekeepers face many difficulties, primarily the absence of clear strategies to deal with the beekeeping sector and the chaos surrounding the import of queens and honey at prices lower than the production costs of local honey and of inferior quality, which contributes to the losses of local beekeepers, according to Bassam Nadr, the head of the Beekeeping Association in Syria, as stated to Enab Baladi.
Additionally, beekeepers face declining efforts to revive the Syrian bee species, which the Ministry of Agriculture started a long time ago but then halted for unknown reasons, and the lack of a professional union for Syrian beekeepers.
The absence of plans to plant nectar and pollen trees, the rise in prices for preventive and therapeutic medications for bees, and the lack of supply monitoring are also difficulties faced by beekeepers, according to Nadr.
He pointed out that there is a problem in the relationship and coordination between farmers and beekeepers. Unlike countries with advanced practices, farmers demand fees from beekeepers for placing their hives on their land, even though the presence of bees helps increase production and improve quality. In developed countries, farmers pay beekeepers for placing hives on their lands.
Possibility of support
Abdul Rahman Qaranfla, a member of the Arab Beekeepers Union, noted that the Syrian Ministry of Agriculture is expected to complete an in-depth technical study of the beekeeping sector in partnership with the Syrian branch of the Arab Beekeepers Union and the cooperative associations concerned with beekeeping, identifying the obstacles to the sector’s growth and then formulating a national strategy for its advancement due to its critical importance to agricultural production.
Bassam Nadr, the head of the Beekeeping Association in Syria affiliated with the General Farmers Union, asserted that the sector will undoubtedly recover if the difficulties and challenges facing beekeepers are addressed, as Syria enjoys flowering seasons throughout the year and has experienced beekeepers. Improving the reality of the sector requires addressing all the challenges.
He explained that beekeepers need to secure production supplies at reasonable prices, especially the fuel necessary for their operations and to obtain loans easily.
For his part, beekeeper Issam Muhammad called for the provision of loans to beekeepers in parallel with the return of some of them to work in this profession, assisting them by providing necessary medications for bees at reasonable prices, activating a fund to compensate beekeepers for losses due to climatic conditions or disease, and marketing honey by opening distribution markets after lifting many of the export restrictions imposed by the previous regime.
Losses in the sector
Bassam Nadr, the head of the Beekeeping Association in Syria, explained that the volume of honey production from bees depends on several factors, primarily the availability of grazing areas and the beekeeper’s ability to move between provinces according to the flowering seasons and crop planting, considering that the war imposed restrictions on beekeepers’ movements in recent years and hindered their ability to transport their hives to grazing areas, leading to decreased honey production in the country.
Many bee hives were subjected to theft, looting, and burning, and many beekeepers were displaced from their lands, causing a decline in honey production and other hive products, and encouraging “unscrupulous individuals” to spread adulterated types of honey in the markets, which inflicted additional harm on the sector’s economy, according to Abdul Rahman Qaranfla, a member of the Arab Beekeepers Union.
Qaranfla noted that the direct damages faced by the beekeeping sector were numerous, as the restriction on moving bees between provinces imposed by the previous regime’s security checkpoints led to the deaths of a large number of beehives.
The loss of medications for some bee diseases also contributed to the loss of a significant portion of the Syrian bee population, in addition to the direct economic and financial damages incurred by beekeepers and those working in the marketing chains related to hive products, as well as the “huge” losses they suffered, not to mention the loss of Syrian markets that used to absorb surplus honey production and other hive products.
Qaranfla pointed out that beekeeping relies on moving between provinces in search of flowering seasons, as beekeepers navigate between internal, coastal, central, northern, southern, and eastern areas. However, the previous regime’s security checkpoints hindered the transport of bees, in addition to the difficulty of securing fuel for vehicles to transport bees and maintain their activity.
With the fall of the regime, there is undoubtedly a chance for the sector to recover again when the number of people working in the profession increases alongside the rise in honey production, as beekeepers can now move freely without obstacles or exposure to extortion, according to Qaranfla.
Syria’s beekeeping sector shows signs of recovery, but hurdles remain Enab Baladi.
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