Beekeeping in Uzbekistan

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Beekeeping in Uzbekistan

Beekeeping in Uzbekistan Photo Apiary in Samarkand

Photo Apiary in Samarkand


Uzbekistan has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Territory 449 thousand square meters. km, the population is about 35 million people. The country is undergoing structural changes in the economy, the share of agriculture in the country's GDP has decreased from 35% in 1990 to 17.6% in 2016, while 60.7% of the republic's population lives in rural areas. Structural shifts are also taking place in agriculture itself - Uzbekistan is moving away from the cotton monopoly, the structure of crops grown in the fields is changing, the production of grapes, vegetables, and fruits has increased significantly. Significant changes have taken place not only in crop production, but also in animal husbandry. Changes in the agriculture of Uzbekistan also greatly affected beekeeping, the industry has fundamentally changed its structure, beekeeping in Uzbekistan can continue to be a factor that will allow agriculture to be more efficient, as well as further develop as an independent industry.

 

Content

  • History of beekeeping in Uzbekistan
  • Modern beekeeping in Uzbekistan
  • What is the honey collection in Uzbekistan
  • What is the price of honey in Uzbekistan?
  • Prospects for the development of beekeeping in Uzbekistan
  • Problems of beekeeping in Uzbekistan
  • Beekeeping in the regions of Uzbekistan
  • Diseases of bees in Uzbekistan
  • What are the bees in Uzbekistan
  • Bees in Uzbekistan
  • What kind of bees are kept in Uzbekistan
  • Bee pollination in Uzbekistan
  • State support for beekeeping in Uzbekistan
  • Training of personnel for beekeeping in Uzbekistan
  • International cooperation of beekeepers in Uzbekistan
  • Honey base of Uzbekistan - honey plants of Uzbekistan
  • What kind of honey in Uzbekistan
  • Beekeeping products in Uzbekistan

 

 

History of beekeeping in Uzbekistan

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, beekeeping in Uzbekistan, like in most of the Central Asian republics, experienced a decline. The turning point was outlined in mid-2006, when the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On measures to stimulate the increase in livestock in personal subsidiary, dekhan and farm enterprises” and the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers “On measures for the further development of beekeeping” were adopted.

During 2006 - 2012, the number of "beekeeping entities" increased by 60%, and the number of bee colonies doubled.
In 2018, the Association of Beekeepers of Uzbekistan (Uzbekiston asalarichilari) - APU and 12 of its regional branches were established, which are effectively coordinating the activities of beekeepers in Uzbekistan. It is interesting to note that the association was essentially created by the government and the chairman of the Association and his deputy must be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan. The activities of the government and the Association of Beekeepers of Uzbekistan have borne fruit, which was reflected in the rapid growth of beekeeping in Uzbekistan.


Dynamics of development of Uzbek beekeeping in 2016 - 2021

 

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Beekeeping entities (beekeepers, thousand people)

12,0

13,2

14,0

14,4

17,0

19,3

Bee colonies (thousands)

585

674

754

848

907

1100

Honey production (thousand tons)

12,1

15,4

17,0

19,1

21,4

25,1

Export of bee packages (thousand pieces)

104

179

207

245

243

311

 

As we can see, the growth of Uzbek beekeeping has a high rate.


In each of the regions, workshops for the production of beehives, frames and other beekeeping equipment were created.
APU together with JSC "Aloqabank" created the leasing company "Alocalizing", which allowed the leasing company to supply equipment for the production of beehives and other beekeeping equipment, as well as the supply of technological lines for the processing of foundation and packaging of honey.

Tribal beekeeping farms were also established.

 

Modern beekeeping in Uzbekistan


Modern beekeeping in Uzbekistan is developing in several directions - commercial honey, breeding, pollination, obtaining royal jelly and other bee products.
Taking into account the variety of honey plants and climate features, a large number of apiaries are migratory, without migration of apiaries one cannot count on a good nectar flow.
What is the honey nectar flow in Uzbekistan
A nomadic apiary in the conditions of Uzbekistan can receive 75 - 100 kg of marketable honey from each bee colony. At the same time, only 10-12 kg of marketable honey can be obtained at a stationary apiary in the conditions of the Fergana region.
What is the price of honey in Uzbekistan?
In 2022, the price of honey was 100,000 sum. For understanding at that time, 1 US dollar was equal to 11450 soums.
The wholesale cost of pollen pollen is 150,000 soums per kg. The cost of propolis is 500,000 soums per kg. The cost of wax is 50,000 soums.
In 2023, the price of honey in Uzbekistan ranged from 80,000 to 120,000 soums per kg, depending on the variety. (1 US dollar was equal to 11,553 UZS.)
The price of mountain bakhmal honey is 120,000 soums per 1 kg,
Steppe honey Akkuray 90 000 soums per 1 kg,
Cotton honey 80 000 sum per 1 kg,
Amber honey 80 000 soums per 1 kg.

 

 

Prospects for the development of beekeeping in Uzbekistan


The government does not leave the beekeeping industry in Uzbekistan without help. Thus, the plans for the development of beekeeping in Uzbekistan until 2026 are planned to almost double the number of bee colonies, bringing their number to 2,500,000 bee colonies and receiving 52,500 tons of honey and other bee products from them.
It can be seen that beekeeping should become one of the bases for increasing the efficiency of agriculture and a way to eliminate unemployment in rural areas, which will be discussed below.

 

Problems of beekeeping in Uzbekistan


Of course, modern beekeeping in Uzbekistan is not without problems. A big problem is the fight against pests and diseases of bees in apiaries, which we will discuss below.
A big problem is the use of pesticides in the fields, especially in cotton. This problem is solved by improving the notification of beekeepers about upcoming treatments, but a more innovative way is the transition to biological methods of combating cotton pests and the use of insects such as lacewing, brakon, trichogramma. This will reduce the pressure of pesticides both on bees and on water and soil, which is important for the region.

Diseases of bees in Uzbekistan


Beekeeping in Uzbekistan faces the same diseases as beekeepers in other countries, however, in addition to the classic varroa mite or acarapidosis, there is an alarming situation with the tropielaps mite in the apiaries of Uzbekistan. A serious threat to apiaries are such diseases as ascospherosis, nosematosis, foulbrood, braulosis, senotainosis, amoebiosis, septicemia, hafniosis, melanosis, aspergillosis, as well as viral diseases of bees.
Among pests of bees, the most dangerous in Uzbekistan are wax moth, mice, ants, ktyrs, spiders, praying mantises, dragonflies, earwigs, bee-eaters among birds, and hornets, wasps, philanthus are also a great danger to bees.

What are the bees in Uzbekistan


What are the bees in Uzbekistan? It is believed that beekeeping in Uzbekistan began with the importation of bees from Semirechie in 1875, of course, there were some bees in Uzbekistan before, but what kind of bees it was is unclear. In the 19th and 20th centuries, many breeds of bees were imported to Uzbekistan, and it turned out that by 1985, a population of bees had formed in the plains of Uzbekistan, which could withstand heat of 40 C and above.
A study in 1989 confirmed that Uzbekistan developed its own local population of bees, which formed spontaneously, however, the indicators of bees from different regions of the republic were different.

 

Bees in Uzbekistan


The bees of local populations differ from other imported bees in high productivity, fertility, winter hardiness and the ability to quickly adapt to any hot weather. The mass of worker bees is 100-110 mg, the mass of unfertilized queens is 190-195 mg, the mass of fertilized is 215-225 mg. The color is dark gray with a noticeable pale yellow on the abdominal rings. The length of the proboscis of worker bees is 6.5-6.8 mm. There may be long-proboscis bees. One of their characteristic features is that they are peaceful. Local bees differ sharply from other breeds in their development.
Another characteristic feature of the bees of Uzbekistan is that they work in the field at any low temperature (even at low temperatures in the morning they start work before sunrise and work until late at night, even on warm moonlit nights. Depending on the phase of the moon, it has been observed many times that bees fly between rows of cotton and collect nectar. During the honey collection period, they can quickly switch from one plant to another. In particular, in desert areas, Uzbek bees collect nectar and pollen from such plants, like akkuray, akbash, yantak, while the karpatka slowly adapt to these plants and produce little honey.
The bees of Uzbekistan put honey in the brood box, the signet is wet, which indicates their Caucasian ancestors - yellow and gray Caucasian bees. Therefore, during the period of the main honey collection, natural egg-laying and feeding of young bees are somewhat limited.
The quantity and quality of honey produced by local bee colonies depends on various factors. In general, one bee family can produce an average of 25-35 kg of honey. Some beekeepers take great care of their bees.
Uzbek bees winter well in the changing climatic conditions of Uzbekistan, when the weather is unfavorable, and they consume little food, few colonies die during the wintering period.

What breed of bees is kept in Uzbekistan


In recent decades, Carpathian bees have been actively spreading in Uzbekistan, although many amateur beekeepers also love karnika, gray mountain Caucasian bees, buckfast and Italian bees.
The choice of this breed as the main one was facilitated by the high market demand for it both in Uzbekistan itself and in Kazakhstan and Russia, as well as the availability of favorable conditions for its breeding in the mountainous and lowland regions of Uzbekistan, and its higher productivity compared to local bees (by 30-50%). It is important that there are many nomadic apiaries in Uzbekistan, and the Carpathian is well mastering bee pavilions and tolerates roaming, and it is also well mastering herbs. You should not discount the fact that since the times of the USSR there were powerful breeding farms in Uzbekistan that specialized in the supply of early bee packages to Siberia and other regions of the USSR, and if at the beginning of their activity they worked with Caucasian bees, then eventually switched to Carpathian bees.

Since 2001, from 500 to 1500 fetal breeding queens have been annually imported to the Fergana region from the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine, mainly from the breeding apiaries of V. A. Gaidar. Distribution of breeding material is carried out mainly through the sale to beekeepers of mature queen cells, bred in specialized apiaries from purebred Carpathian queens. The price of such a mother liquor is only about $1.
How to substitute a mother liquor into a family, into layers, into a nucleus.
To date, the carpathization of bees in the Fergana region is more than 85-90%.
In recent years, besides the Carpathian, Karnika has penetrated into Uzbekistan, and not only in the form of illegal supplies to amateur apiaries. In the Fergana region, a protected farm has been organized for breeding karnika bees, which will soon allow the supply of Uzbek karnika to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia. And apparently, there will be more than one such enterprise, the government of Uzbekistan plans to create “Protected territories of the thoroughbred bee” by 2026, where purebred karnika and karpatka will be bred. The genetic material of karniki will be imported to Uzbekistan.
It is important to note that the export of bee packages is a serious source of income for Uzbekistan and therefore great efforts are being made to improve the purity of breeding apiaries. Moreover, by 2026 it is planned to increase the production of bee packages to 1,000,000 pieces, this is the volume of bee packages that fully covers the needs of Russia.
From April 28, 2023, Rosselkhoznadzor introduced restrictions on the import of bee packages from Uzbekistan into Russia. There is no complete ban on imports, as long as there is an attempt to establish control over the sale of packages in Russia.

 

Pollination of fields by bees in Uzbekistan


Another activity of beekeepers in Uzbekistan is the use of honey bees for pollination of agricultural crops, especially since the government has taken care of this at the legislative level. This is especially true in the Ferghana Valley, where intensive agriculture is practiced, all lands are plowed up, pesticides are widely used, and the conditions for the survival of wild pollinators are minimized.
Experiments show that due to pollination by honey bees, the yield of sweet cherries increases by 2 times. The yield of plum and apple trees increases by 2-3 times, apricot and peach - up to 5 times, sunflower - by 40-50%. Pollination by bees is especially important in intensive orchards. The harvest of melons and gourds increases by 30 - 100%. The number of bolls during pollination of cotton by bees increases by 43%, and the shedding of flowers decreases by half, and the mass of cotton in one bolus increases by 13%, which gives an increase in cotton yield up to 23%. Even with pollination of grapes, the yield increases one and a half times. When onions are pollinated, the seed yield increases by 300%. The yield of fodder grass seeds is increased by 2-3 times. It is possible to increase the yield of alfalfa and clover seeds many times over if they are properly pollinated by bees. It is also important that the bees not only increase the yield, but significantly increase its quality - the fruits are larger, regular in shape, accumulate more nutrients, ripen earlier, the seeds have a greater growth force. Bee pollination is one of the elements of pasture productivity increase technology.

Pollination by bees in Uzbekistan is all the more important because there are many farms in the region for the production of alfalfa seeds, vegetable crops, as well as growing vegetables in greenhouses. Therefore, the government plans to significantly increase the area of pollinated crops, so the area of orchards should increase 30 times to 30,000 hectares, and cotton to 300,000 hectares. The wishes of paid pollination are supported by finances. Payments for the pollination of cotton by bees will be made at the expense of funds allocated to finance the cultivation of cotton from the State Support Fund for Agriculture under the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry. For gardeners, it is planned to allocate budget loans at a rate of 7 percent per annum, with the condition of its return in equal shares, for the use of bee pollination agricultural technology in intensive gardens.
Of interest is the provision of services for the pollination of fields for export. The pollination apiary winters in Uzbekistan, develops early in the spring and then provides paid pollination services to farmers from Kazakhstan and Russia.


State support for beekeeping in Uzbekistan


Beekeeping in Uzbekistan receives significant support from the state, which, apparently, clearly understands that beekeeping is the basis for the development of agriculture.

At the end of each month, the prime minister or his deputy holds a republican conference call on beekeeping issues. Heads of administrations of the regional and district level, beekeepers and specialists take part in such meetings.

Beekeeping is provided with preferential loans at a rate of 7-14% per year. In 2021, more than 11 thousand "beekeeping entities" were able to receive soft loans for the development of apiaries in the amount of 260 billion soums (2.3 billion rubles).
For example, the government, realizing that an apiary is a serious help in rural areas, allows a person to take a soft loan in order to purchase 5 bee colonies as the basis of a future apiary. This number of bees is quite enough to start, especially since it is difficult for a beginner to keep more families in a stationary apiary in Uzbekistan due to the conditions of the honey base.
It would be useful to recall that in 2017, when planning a beekeeping development program in Uzbekistan, the government exempted organizations that are part of the beekeepers' association from customs duties on imported breeding material, inventory, equipment, special equipment for beekeeping, veterinary preparations and even wood for beehives. Thus, it helped to create a material base for the development of beekeeping.
In addition to financial support for beekeepers, which is important in itself, beekeeping in Uzbekistan has received a number of regulatory documents that regulate issues in various areas of beekeeping, including:

  • "Procedure for the transportation and placement of honey bees in the Republic of Uzbekistan".
  • "Veterinary and sanitary rules for beekeeping - the requirements of the veterinary service for the prevention and treatment of bee diseases."
  • "The procedure for feeding and breeding bees in the Republic of Uzbekistan".
  • "Rules for the production of organic bee products".
  • "About punishment for falsification of honey".
  • Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated June 12, 2023 No. 239 “On additional measures to support the beekeeping industry and bee pollination of crops” was adopted.
    It is planned to take a number of measures to support beekeeping until 2026:
  • Until January 1, 2026, in the laboratories of the Committee for Veterinary Medicine and Livestock Development under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan, verification and conclusion on the quality of locally produced honey will be carried out free of charge based on the recommendation of the Association.
  • It is planned to include honey products in the daily diet of children of preschool educational organizations and patients undergoing inpatient treatment from September 1, 2023.
  • Annually from December 1 to December 10, to hold in Tashkent the international exhibition "Honey Holiday" and "Beekeeping Products", and within the framework of this exhibition:
  • organize fairs of honey and bee products grown in the territories of the republic;
  • promotion of best practices in beekeeping;
  • exchange of experience among beekeepers and holding educational and practical seminars;
  • organize exhibitions of advanced technologies and equipment used in the field of beekeeping in the republic and foreign countries.

Training for beekeeping in Uzbekistan


Beekeepers-livestock specialists and other personnel necessary for the development of beekeeping are trained by the Tashkent State Agrarian University, Fergana State University and the Samarkand Institute of Veterinary Medicine. And this is a lot within the framework of Uzbekistan.
In Uzbekistan, not only universities are engaged in the training of specialists in beekeeping. In the Yangikurgan Agricultural Professional College, a direction was opened for the training of specialists in beekeeping.
In recent years, there have been many trips to Uzbekistan by major scientists of beekeepers from Russia and other countries, who transferred their experience locally, improving the skills of Uzbek beekeepers.

International cooperation of beekeepers in Uzbekistan

The scope of international cooperation of Uzbek beekeepers has significantly expanded.
In 2022, an agreement on cooperation was signed between the all-Russian public organization "Union of beekeepers of Russia" and the Association of beekeepers of Uzbekistan. First of all, the parties decided to cooperate in the field of formation and supply from Uzbekistan to the Russian Federation of early bee packages and queen bees of high-quality breed composition and without concomitant diseases, since there were supplies of bee packages before, but they caused a lot of complaints about their quality from Russian beekeepers.
In the same year, there was a meeting with Kazakh beekeepers, and the International Honey Festival was held in Namangan. Contacts with Korean educational institutions have expanded significantly.
Beekeepers in Uzbekistan regularly cooperate with FAO in the field of IT technologies in beekeeping and other projects.
In 2008, a group of beekeepers from the Ferghana Regional Union of Beekeepers paid a three-week study visit to the US states of Nevada and California. Later, several young beekeepers completed year-long internships in the USA. Currently, Uzbek beekeepers work in Canada and Australia. Close cooperation has been established with Israeli beekeepers.

Honey base of Uzbekistan


Uzbekistan has the most diverse melliferous vegetation, which ensures that the beekeepers of Uzbekistan receive a large number of varieties of honey. See honey base of Uzbekistan.

What kind of honey in Uzbekistan

What kind of honey in Uzbekistan
The beekeepers of Uzbekistan collect many varieties of honey, which is facilitated by both the diversity of natural areas and the developed nomadic beekeeping. Among the best varieties of honey that are obtained in Uzbek apiaries, one can single out mountain and steppe herbs, camel thorn honey (amber honey), cotton honey, alfalfa honey, rapeseed honey and many other types of honey (ak-kuraevy, trailer honey, white thorn honey, isvan honey, coriander honey, clover honey, etc.).
The honey market in Uzbekistan is protected by a high import tariff, which is 100% (in Russia - 15%).

Beekeeping products in Uzbekistan


Despite the fact that quite a lot of honey is produced in Uzbekistan, little is spent on the export of Uzbek honey, while Uzbekistan imports almost the same amount of honey. Considering the dynamics of honey exports from Uzbekistan, it can be assumed that covid restrictions have placed a serious barrier on its way, and in the future Uzbekistan will still be able to export a large amount of honey.
In addition to honey, Uzbek beekeepers also receive other bee products - pollen, perga, royal jelly, propolis and others. Scientists in Uzbekistan pay serious attention to the use of honey and bee products in apitherapy.
It is interesting to note such a detail, as a rule, amateur beekeepers with an apiary of up to 100 bee families overwhelmingly produce and sell only honey, while beekeepers in large apiaries use them in a complex manner, receiving income in addition to honey from the sale of beekeeping products and packages. This situation may indicate that a small apiary cannot receive a commercial batch of beekeeping products, and retail sales are so insignificant that they do not want to deal with them, focusing on honey production.
The needs of beekeeping in wax are fully met by 18 wax processing workshops operating in the country. In recent years, the shortage of wax has been overcome, which arose due to the fact that a lot of wax is exported annually with bee packages.

 

 

 

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