Bees for Development Journal 109
JAPANESE TECHNIQUES IN MONGOLIA
Hitomi Enomoto, ApiScience Information Services APISIS, 5-6-3 Tamagawa Gakuen, Machida, Tokyo 194-0041, Japan
PHOTOS © HIDEHIRO HOSHIBA
Keywords: Beekeepers’ Association of Mongolia, GEF SGP, honey production, JAICAF, Tree of Life Inc, UNDP, World Vision
Participants of the Seminar to raise awareness of environment conservation and biodiversity essential for high-quality honey and other bee product production During summer 2013, experts from Japan made a series of visits to Mongolia to promote the production of high quality bee products, and to increase awareness by Mongolian beekeepers of their environment and their need for biodiversity.
into a market economy, only a few individual families who had worked for the state farms were left to continue with beekeeping.
Beekeeping started 50 years ago in Mongolia. During the former socialist period, several state bee farms were found in the forest steppe zone of Mongolia, particularly in the region of Darkhan-Selenge. In the 1990s, as Mongolia failed its transition
Beekeeping development projects started in the late 2000s. Supported by World Vision and the Global Environment Facility’s Small Grants Programme (GEF SGP) and UNDP, the Beekeepers’ Association of Mongolia conducted basic training during 2005 to 2012. In 2009, 40 families were keeping 200 colonies. Today there are 100 beekeeping families managing 3,000 colonies, and harvesting 30 tonnes of honey per year. They face many obstacles including financial constraints, and difficulties related to worsening natural conditions.
Apiary visits to Shaamar Sum and Darhhan-Selenge Region
Extracting honey 8
