Saving the bees: Qatar’s burgeoning honey industry
Many people do not realise that apart from producing honey, bees are essential to our ecosystem and survival. As a species, bees play the central role in producing the fruits and vegetables that humans (and the animals we eat) are dependent upon for food.
The rapidly decreasing honeybee population has been a source of worry to scientists as far back as 2006. In the US alone, 30% of the honeybee population vanished in 2016, and 7 bee species have been put on the endangered species list.
Amidst various warnings of gloom and doom, it is heartening to know that Qatar has a rather unexpected local honey industry, that has been growing steadily.
As early as 2013, Qatar was producing over 10 tonnes of honey annually, with about 30 apiaries, or bee-keeping farms, in the country. Since then, the number of apiaries has increased to around 130.
This is largely thanks to the efforts of the Department of Agricultural Affairs in the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME), that supports local beekeepers as part of a national project. They provide them with hives and honey colonies along with pesticides and tools to help them develop their apiaries.
Unlike most regions, Qatar’s honey-making season commences at the beginning of winter, when the weather cools and heat and humidity no longer pose a threat to the hives, which can often collapse because of these factors.
The support for apiaries is as much a support for the bees as it is for honey production. With so many bees being killed off by pesticides on the plants they pollinate, climate change and parasites, the fact that they are given a place to thrive here is good news indeed.
Tried the local honey? Share your favourite with us!
Yes, very nice article and thanks for sharing. We do depend a lot on honey, be it from desserts to health care, however, fail to look into the efforts and struggles of the honey industry, and more importantly the bee population. The Ministry is doing a very good job, and we need to appreciate their efforts as well.