Bees/orDevelopment Journal 84
NEWS AROUND THE WORLD
NEWS AROUND THE WORLD transportation of their produce. He said there was no market for honey in Afghanistan and they were compelled to send the produce to
AFGHANISTAN Beekeepers returning home August a delegation from the Afghan Beekeepers' Association held discussions with top Government officials in Kabul and began In
negotiations regarding setting up bee farms in
Afghanistan. Mr Babakarkhel has spent 27 years in Pakistan but is now determined to return to Afghanistan to develop his business and improve the country's economy. He wants to motivate his
colleagues to play their role in rebuilding. Mr Babakarkhel said that Afghans living in Pakistan have 8,000 bee farms and every farm has 150-200 hives. About 0.1 million people are busy with this profession, harvesting
50-60 kg honey from each hive and selling
Peshawar in Pakistan for sale. Also there were no medicines for bees and they had to bring Deputy Minister for
them from Peshawar.
Agriculture and Irrigation, Mohammad Sharif Sharif said establishing the farms would be a great benefit to Afghanistan. Though not promising great assistance, he said he would try his best to provide basic facilities to beekeepers, and they had many experts who could provide valuable suggestions. Head of the Ministry of Foreign Trade in Commerce, Mohammad Azim Wardak, said although the granting of trade facilities was the job of the
Government, traders should not be lethargic spectators. Beekeepers should publicise their products and arrange national and international exhibitions. He said that although
tha produce both within and outside the ntry. Mr Babakarkhel said Pakistan
some companies wanted to invest money in Afghanistan, the lack of electricity, industrial
receives millions of dollars in tax from the honey, and with the planned project not only would Afghanistan benefit from the tax, but thousands of people would be employed.
parks and security were great obstacles to
development.
Association Official Syed Aga Naeemi was pleased with the prospects and said that if individuals started working together, the Government would assist them because working in groups would help to create markets for the honey. Mr Naeemi also demanded that the Government provide beekeepers with a letter of authority to enable them to easily
transport their produce to neighbouring Pakistan. He said that even if they harvested honey from their bees in Pakistan, they would be bringing it to Afghanistan to sell. Mr Naeemi
said that bee farming started in 1974, and at that time Afghanistan exported 40 tonnes of
honey per year.
According to a verse of the Holy Koran Allah has stored a healing touch in honey for human beings’.
Source www.onlinenews.com.pk
Afghan residents would have the chance to buy honey at lower prices. Mr Babakarkhel asked for markets to be built in the cities and,
because their beekeeping is migratory (the beekeepers move colonies from one source of forage to another), he asked the Government to provide transport facilities. He also asked for the checking procedure to be relaxed for
beekeepers, because if a car loaded with hives is stopped for 10 minutes in the heat, the death of bees is certain. BEES FOR DEVELOPMENT
Mohammad Salman, a beekeeper who has worked for 18 years in Pakistan and two years in Afghanistan, complained that they are sing numerous problems. Keeping hives in Khogiani District of eastern
40
Nangarhar he said police were demanding money, or sometimes honey as bribes during
because of a climate problem, and consequently cannot provide the product to
ARGENTINA
Beekeeping emergency declared Buenos Aires Province has declared a ‘Beekeeping Emergency Status’. Commission President, Daniel Gurzi explained: "The area is suffering from an unusual drought that this time repeats in 7-8 year cycles, however it is more extensive. Economic problems have
become worse, not only in beekeeping, but also for industry and trade. When an emergency situation is declared in any economic sector, it triggers measures such as improving national bank credit rates, not levying interest on delayed tax payments or any type of credit acquired by the producer. beekeepers cannot harvest their crops
the market, they must deal with the possibility of credit expiration, quotas or the
implementation of taxes. The emergency declaration means that the producer will have
handed over to the Beekeepers’ Association of Bhutan (BEKAB). Currently the Association has 28 beekeepers with 370 colonies of
a delayed term to fulfill debts due to the
Apis mellifera producing 8,400-10,300 kg of
State".
honey annually.
Source Portal Apicola and thanks to Rafael Thimann for providing the translation
This year BEKAB expects to collect more than 11,000 kg of honey. An Association official
BHUTAN
said that good weather had favoured the bees in their nectar collection. The first honey
Apis mellifera was introduced to Bhutan's
harvest starts on 10 July and is usually completed by the first week of August. In
Bumthang Valley by a private beekeeper in 1987. In 1995 a Project was established with
2005 the Association had a yield of 8.5 tonnes in the first harvesting season and
Beekeeping with European honey bees If
support from Helvetas (Swiss Association for International Co-operation). After training some Bhutanese beekeepers, the Project was
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