A total of 112,000 tons of honey have been produced in Iran since the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2019), up 24.44% from last year’s 90,000 tons, according to director of the Agriculture Ministry’s Apiculture Expansion Project.
West Azarbaijan Province with 21,400 tons has produced the largest amount of honey in Iran.
“The number of bee colonies in Iran currently stands at 10.6 million, showing a 26% rise year-on-year, some 10.2 million of which are modern colonies and the remaining 300,000 are traditional. Around 98% of the honey produced this year came from our modern colonies,” Farhad Moshir Ghaffari was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.
Bee wax production, the official added, reached 2,227 tons this year, which is 52.53% more than last year's output.
Iran produces more than 80,000 tons of honey every year, Agricultural Ministry officials said during a ceremony held to unveil achievements in the beekeeping industry recently.
CEO of Beekeeping Industry Expansion Support Fund Behzad Bankipour said that over the past five years, Iran’s beekeeping industry shifted its focus from producing only one main product, namely honey, to producing other bee secretions such as royal jelly and bee venom.
According to Morteza Rezaei, deputy agriculture minister for livestock affairs, said the export of each gram of bee venom fetches $80.
“This sum is equal to one and a half barrels of oil. Bee venom is used in the production of pharmaceuticals, including steroids and painkillers,” IRNA reported.
Deputy Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare for Entrepreneurial Affairs Isa Mansouri, also present at the meeting, said presently around 90,000 people are engaged in the country’s beekeeping industry.
Average honey production from each modern Iranian hive, the official said, amounts to around 11 kilograms.
Gholamhossein Tahmasebi, the head of Honeybee Research Department with the Animal Science Research Institute affiliated with the Agriculture Ministry, said at the Second International and 10th National Iranian Honeybee Congress held in Karaj last week that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations places Iran as the fourth biggest producer of honey worldwide with 69,000 tons of production per year.
“This is while Iran’s annual honey production has increased to 90,000 tons and FAO has to update our global ranking in the field,” he said.
Tahmasebi noted that per capita honey consumption in Iran annually stands at 1 kilogram.
The global annual average is 250 to 300 grams.
“Honey exports currently stand at 5,000 tons per year. The industry has the capacity to increase the figure to over 10,000 tons annually” he added.
FAO's representative to Iran Gerold Boedeker, who was present at the event, said Iran has vast capacities to expand a valuable food chain in beekeeping.
“Iran is a prominent country in honey production.” he said
Beekeeping in Iran dates back to 2,000 to 3,000 years, though apiculture as we know it in its modern, industrial form started around three decades ago in Iran. Since then, the number of beekeepers and the amount of honey produced have been increasing year by year.
West Azarbaijan, East Azarbaijan and Ardabil top the list of Iranian provinces with the highest honey production.
