First National Honeybee Day observed amid complaints

KABUL (Pajhwok): As the ‘National Honey Bee Day’ was marked for the first time in the country, honeybee owners complained on Thursday they had not received any assistance from the government.

Deputy Agriculture’ concluded here in Kabul that his ministry declared May 12 as the National Honeybee Day in order to introduce Afghan honey to people and help thrive honey beekeeping industry.

However, beekeepers complained the government was yet to impart them any training or provide any assistance. Abdul Rab Hamidi, a beekeeper, said the presence of substandard honey in the market was a big challenge to their business, asking the government to take urgent steps to control it.

Another beekeeper said on condition of anonymity that they were facing a lack of access to market, medicine, laboratories and quality control facilities in the field.

He asked the government to conduct training programmes for beekeeping personnel in spheres of packing, production and beekeeping in Kabul and provinces.

Technical team leader of the beekeeping project, Ghulam Sanaee Sati, told Pajhwok Afghan News they had distributed 11 types of equipment for honey production across the country and had so far conducted many training events.

Currently there are more than 6100 beekeepers including 550 women in different provinces of the country besides 58 cooperative and 10 unions of beekeeping while some people kept bees individually.

Afghanistan has proper environment for beekeeping, but the country produced only more than 1.3 million tonnes of honey last year, a unsatisfactory amount.

myn/ma

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