MAIL vows to always support beekeeping business

KABUL (Pajhwok): Nearly 5.5 tons of honey is being imported every year despite the presence of 7,000 bee farms in the country.

Maulvi Misbahuddin Mustain, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, told Pajhwok Afghan News that there were 7,083 private bee farms in the country, mostly in Khost province.

According to him, there are different types of bees in Afghanistan.

He added: “The ministry assures it will always support beekeepers and strive to address their problems.”

He said Afghanistan needsed25,740 metric tons of honey annually while the country produced 1,773 tons of honey per year, which was not enough.

He said that last year more than 5.5 tons of honey was imported from abroad and more than two tons of honey exported to neighboring countries.

Meanwhile, Abdul Salam Javad Akhundzada, spokesman of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, told Pajhwok that Afghanistan exported more than 2.4 tons of honey to India, Australia, Holland, Germany, Pakistan, Kuwait and England last year.

He added that last year, Afghanistan imported 296,374 kilograms of honey from the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, India, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Malaysia and Pakistan.

May 20 marked as International Bee Day and UNHCR published a video on its twitter page on the occasion and said that displaced people were taught beekeeping skills.

sa/ma

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