BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 14. Iran’s honey production increased by about 18 percent, during the current Iranian year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2023), compared to the last Iranian year (March 21, 2021 through March 20, 2022), an official of Iranian Ministry of Agriculture Jihad, Touraj Saremi, said, Trend reports citing the ministry.
The official said that more than 136,000 tons of honey were produced in the country for the current Iranian year, while, this figure amounted to approximately 115,000 tons in the last Iranian year.
Saremi noted that of the mentioned volume, 22.2 percent was produced in Iran's West Azerbaijan Province, 11.5 percent in East Azerbaijan Province, 11 percent in Fars Province, 6.7 percent in Ardabil Province, and 5.87 percent in Kermanshah Province of for the current Iranian year.
“In addition, 9 tons of royal jelly, 858 tons of bee pollen, 2,700 tons of beeswax, 163 tons of propolis, and 14.6 kg of honey bee venom were produced in the country,” he added.
The official also pointed out that there are 96,327 beekeeping farms operating in the country. According to the count conducted in the autumn season (September 23 through December 21, 2022), there are more than 11.5 million beehives in the country.
According to him, a total of 60,000 people are engaged in beekeeping in Iran.
A 4-year (March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2026) program has been prepared for the development of beekeeping in Iran, insurance of beekeepers, risk reduction, production increase and other issues in this field. On the basis of this program, necessary steps will be taken to support beekeepers and we will result with the increase of beekeeping in the country.
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