SAUDI
ARABIA
Hives
Pesticides
Most of the hives in Yemen are traditional types: box hives, log hives, pipe hives and skeps. In the last 15 years many beekeepers have tried top-bar hives and frame hives
Pesticides are a great threat to honeybees in Yemen. The mortality of bees can reach a mean of 48% when fields are sprayed during the flowering
Peninsula.
(Langstroth) and adopted apicultural techniques that are new to Yemen.
Research
Capital Sana’a
Melliferous vegetation
Main agriculture
There are more than 1000 species of bee plants in Yemen, 705 of these grow wild. These can be sub-divided into herbs, dwarf shrubs, shrubs, and trees that provide nectar and pollen for foraging bees. The most important
Size 555,000 Population
km? 16 million
Location The Republic of Yemen is in the south-west corner of the Arabian
Cereals: barley, maize, millet, sorghum and wheat Fruits: banana, date, grape, oranges and papaya Vegetables: cucurbits, onion, potato and tomato
Cash crops: coffee and cotton.
Honeybees The honeybee Apis mellifera is found everywhere in Yemen. In isolated hills Ad wadis it is still possible to find the adigenous, pure race of Yemeni honeybee Apis mellifera jemenitica.
Beekeeping Beekeeping has been known in Yemen since ancient times. In 10 BC the production of honey ranked fourth in the economy of the country. Yemen has a diversity of honey plants spread all over the country. Their flowering period varies significantly from one area to area. This has resulted in the increase of migratory beekeeping across Yemen.
Data shows that the number of honeybee colonies has increased by three times in the last ten years to about 284,000 colonies.
honey sources are: Acacia sp, Euphorbia sp and Ziziphus sp. Many of the major Yemeni food crops provide useful pollen and/or nectar for bees. These include coffee, dates, maize, oranges, sesame and sorghum.
Honey
Research activities on beekeeping are carried out in universities. Research includes studies of honeybee biology, honey production, honeybee diseases and pests and their control.
Training and extension The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation is responsible for training in, and extension of beekeeping. Short and long-term training courses are
conducted in the Faculty of Agriculture in the University of Aden. The
Agricultural Training Center also holds short courses on apicuiture. We are grateful to Dr Mohammed S Khanbash from the University of Aden for providing this information.
Honey production is about 1700 tonnes annually. 17.2% of this is
period.
exported.
Honey price: Yemeni honey is considered one of the most famous and expensive honeys in the world. One kilogram of “siddr” (Ziziphus spinachristi) honey sells for US$50. Other types of Yemeni honey are sold for US$20-25 per kilogram.
“Siddr” tree (Ziziphus spinachristi) yields one of the most expensive honeys in the world
MOHAMMED
S
KHANBASH
Honeybee diseases, pests and predators The Varroa mite
is causing problems for beekeepers in Yemen. It has been spread by migratory beekeeping and is difficult to control in traditional hives. Nosema disease is widespread in some
places. Other pests and predators include ants, wasps and wax moth.
A Bees for Development publication - Page 17.-
