ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Osman Mullah Abdulla has been keeping bees for 15 years, making a living by producing and selling honey. That makes him self-sufficient and in no need of government handouts.
Abdullah, the most experienced beekeeper in the village of Pishtashan in Sulaimani province, has 500 beehives which produce 400 tons of honey a year.
To produce good quality honey without added sugars and to keep his large number of customers, Abdullah transfers his bees for months from hot to colder regions of Kurdistan, depending on the season of the year.
“The price of one kilo of honey from my bees sells is for 45,000 IQD ($35), but we also make cheaper varieties,” Abdullah said.
The large population of his village earns its income from bees: the village has more than 10,000 beehives , turning it into a small market where bees are also bought and sold.
People across Iraq “visit our village to buy bees. In the autumn, two beehives are sold for 180,000 IQD ($145), but in the spring, one beehive fetches 125,000 IQD ($100).”
Although the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources does not have specific data about the number of bees, beekeepers and their products, according to other data it is estimated that around 350,000 to 500,000 beehives and 10,000 beekeepers exist in the region.
The overall annual honey produced in the KRG is between 650 to 850 tons. This amount meets only 60 percent of Kurdistan’s annual demand of 1,350 tons a year.
“We have not carried out an accurate annual counting for the number of bees and beekeepers in Kurdistan yet. But unconfirmed estimates have indicated that there are around 350,000 beehives and 10,000 beekeepers in the region,” Dr. Abdulerhman Omer Mustafa, an official from the ministry of agriculture, told Rudaw.
Mustafa, who holds masters degree and PhD in agriculture, believes that beekeeping in Kurdistan is not regarded as a full-time job among villagers, which means it is not developing steadily.
“Among the 10,000 beekeepers we have in Kurdistan, only 100 are real beekeepers,” he said.
Nevertheless, adequate weather and efforts by the ministry of agriculture has led to phenomenal growth: In 2001 there were only 151 beehives in Kurdistan, but the number climbed to 250,000 in 2013 and 350,000 this year.
There are a number of organizations and associations working to solve problems faced by beekeepers.
Abdullah, head of the Kurdistan Beekeepers Network Organization, said they work with beekeepers to increase volumes and standards every year: "in recent years, some 650 to 800 tons of bees were produced in Kurdistan,” he said.
Abdullah believes the reason why “the number of bees is slowly increasing in Kurdistan is because around 20,000 to 30,000 beehives are exported to the central and southern Iraqi cities" every year.
He added that if the temperature is suitable and rain ratio is high, honey yield doubles in a year.
According to data recently published by the agriculture ministry, honey yield has been fluctuating.
“The temperatures, diseases, mortar shells on the border areas fired by Iran and Turkey have all negatively affected honey production. In the years when the weather is fine, there is less disease. We have good produce, and this year is believed to be good, too,” Abdullah explained.
Beekeepers claim that the region’s weather is very suitable for beekeeping, and that it can support the keeping of one million beehives.
But, Abdullah complains that, “due to imported honey, we cannot sell our products well.”
Despite an economic crisis the region has been suffering from over the last two years, the price of honey has remained unchanged, especially for locally produced honey.
“The taste of domestic honey is incomparable to imported honey, and despite the fact that its price is expensive, there is still a huge demand for it,” said Mohammed Saeed, owner of a honey market.
Saeed went to say that “in 2013, I sold 175 tons of honey. But sales declined to 131 tons last year. Half the honey I am selling now is domestic.”
Saeed reiterated that, “despite the economic crisis, there is a huge demand for our domestic honey, though the price is much more expensive.”
