Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 5
By Ilhama Isabalayeva – Trend:
From mid-October, a special commission established at the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan will begin certifying the bee colonies (hives) by regions, and each bee colony will receive an identification code, the head of the public relations and information support department of Azerbaijan’s Agriculture Ministry Vugar Huseynov told Trend Oct. 5.
Based on this, the exact number of bee colonies in the country will be established for the first time.
"Currently, there are different figures for bee colonies. Some say that there are 300,000 bee colonies in Azerbaijan, others - 360,000. But the exact number will be determined after completion of the registration," Huseynov said.
He noted that according to the “Procedure for issuing subsidies for each bee colony (hive) to individuals and legal entities engaged in beekeeping”, approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, the beekeepers will be paid a subsidy of 10 manats per year for each bee colony (hive).
“If in a beekeeper’s farm, 100 bee colonies receive an identification code, then 1000 manats of subsidies will be issued to him annually. After specifying the number of bee colonies in beekeepers’ farms, the State Agrarian Development Center together with the ministry’s commission will issue a certificate to the beekeeper, which will be submitted to the commission, which will issue subsidy, and the funds will be transferred to the beekeeper's account," the head of the department said.
He recalled that the subsidy will be valid for five years, including 2018. This period may be further extended.
Huseynov noted that the purpose of subsidies is to provide state support for the development of beekeeping sector, to preserve the gene pool of bee colonies.
"During the collection of products, the beekeepers completely away all the honey. Therefore, the bees face the problem of nutrition, and in March-April most bee families die. Therefore, the government provides a subsidy so that some of the honey would be left to bees," Huseynov said.
He noted that the issuance of subsidies can expand the export opportunities of beekeeping industry.
Earlier, the Asaf Omarov, the Head of the Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Agriculture said that there are 271,682 bee colonies in Azerbaijan. He noted that every year, on average, each colony produces ten kilograms of honey, the volume of annual honey production in the country is 3,000 tons, the volume of honey consumption is 5,000 tons. Most bee colonies are in Zagatala (17,097), Astara (12,429), Gakh (9,125), Lerik (8,669) and Balaken (8,581) regions.