Country of beekeepers Serbia

Serbia can rightly be called the country of beekeepers. Serbian beekeeping is developing at a good pace, despite the fact that the country was extremely difficult in 1990-2000 and the financial crises that broke out did not bypass Serbia. Nevertheless, Serbian beekeeping has developed and is worth considering in more detail.

Content

• Development of beekeeping in Serbia
• How many bees and beekeepers in Serbia
• How much honey is harvested in Serbia
• State support for beekeeping in Serbia
• What Serbian apiaries
• What are the bees in Serbia
• Serbian honey
• Serbian honey export
• How Serbian beekeepers sell honey
• Diseases of bees in beekeeping in Serbia

 

 

Development of beekeeping in Serbia

In Serbia, beekeeping is developing at one of the highest rates in the world.

 

How many bees and beekeepers in Serbia

In 2001, 34,000 Serbian beekeepers owned approximately 380,000 bee colonies. In 2015, Serbian beekeepers had 792,000 hives. In March 2017, it was announced that there are approximately 1,200,000 bee colonies in Serbia. in 2018 there were 1,295,545 registered hives and 25,830 registered beekeepers. Thus, the density of bees in Serbia has reached one hive per six people, which no other country in the world has, for comparison, in China, one hive falls on 226 inhabitants, in Slovenia, one hive falls on 14 people. These successes are all the more surprising if one considers that the weather does not indulge Serbian beekeepers and in some areas there has been no honey flow for several years. As the Serbs themselves say, “2014 was the worst in the last 50 years, and 2016 was the worst in the last hundred years, and this year is even worse than last.”

We can also note the growth of professional beekeepers, which leads to an increase in the number of bees and a decrease in the number of beekeepers.

 

How much honey is harvested in Serbia

In 2017, due to bad weather, honey harvest was expected at the level of 5-7 kg of marketable honey from the hive. However, Serbia produced over 7,000 tons of honey in 2017, slightly below the average for the last decade. According to the research results, the average collection of honey from one hive was 22.2 kg, with fluctuations from 11 to 23 kg. The maximum collection of honey from one hive was observed in large apiaries.

The maximum production of honey was recorded in 2015, when Serbian beekeepers were able to get over 12 thousand tons.

State support for beekeeping in Serbia

The increase in the number of hives is partly the result of support for beekeepers from the Ministry of Agriculture and local authorities, as well as the good organization of beekeepers. One of the important reasons for the increased interest and involvement in beekeeping is the emergence of export-oriented companies engaged in the purchase, processing and distribution of honey, which individually have a large market share in Serbia and guarantee market access for producers.

Beekeeping in Serbia is subsidized by the state, but every year there are changes in the amount of subsidies and the conditions for their provision.

What Serbian apiaries

Serbian beekeepers, depending on the size of the apiary, are divided into four categories. Recreational beekeepers have 20 hives, typically beekeepers with less than 20 hives are not eligible for hive subsidies, advanced hobbyist beekeepers operate 50 hives, semi-professional beekeepers operate 100 hives, and professional beekeepers operate over 150 hives. Large apiaries have up to 2,000 hives.

The majority of Serbian apiaries are located in the regions of Šumadija and Western Serbia (48%), as well as in southern and eastern Serbia (37%).
A significant part of all honey production (about 28%) in Serbia is produced by professional beekeepers with more than 100 hives, but there is also a fragmentation of production that is typical for all Serbian agriculture, which means that beekeepers with small apiaries produce large amounts of honey.

Serbian beekeeping is developing organic apiaries, which have 2500 hives in 2015 and the sector continues to develop, especially in the south of Serbia, where there are all conditions for the development of organic agriculture.

Serbian beekeepers are willing to roam to get a large amount of honey. According to various studies, 35 - 50% of beekeepers are engaged in nomadic beekeeping, the difference depends on the region in which the research was carried out.

 

What are the bees in Serbia

What are the bees in Serbia? Two breeds of bees are common in Serbia, the karnika in the north and the Macedonian bee in the south of Serbia, these breeds form several ecotypes and populations. Since beekeepers often practice wandering from south to north, there are many crossbreeds in apiaries. Serbian beekeepers are willing to import carnica queens from Slovenia. Serbia is engaged in the selection of carnica and beekeepers of neighboring countries willingly buy Serbian carnica queens.

Serbian honey

Serbia is rich in honey plants. A significant part of Serbia is covered with acacia and linden forests and mountain meadows; there are a lot of sunflower and rapeseed in the fields. Serbian honey plants allow you to get 380 varieties of high quality honey from 13 regions. Serbia has made a lot of efforts to make its honey recognized on the world market. Serbian acacia honey and honey from meadow herbs are famous, Serbian linden, sunflower and rapeseed honey are less known.

In 2009 - 2010, on the basis of the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Belgrade, they began to systematically study all varieties of Serbian honey. Research results are published in leading scientific journals and covered at international conferences. A reliable procedure for determining the botanical and geographical origin of honey produced in Serbia has been developed.

Serbian honey export

Serbian honey is an important export product. The average export of honey from Serbia in the period 2012-2017 amounted to 2,477 tons in the amount of 10,844 thousand US dollars. The most important export region is the EU with 67.7% of exports. Most of the Serbian honey is sold in the markets of Germany, Italy, Norway, Austria and other European countries.

How Serbian beekeepers sell honey

Beekeepers in Serbia sell honey to processors or directly to consumers at vegetable markets, fairs or from apiaries. Part of the produced honey is not sold on the market, but is left on farms for natural consumption, gifts and promotion, as well as bee food throughout the year, in order to reduce the cost of production. The amount of produced honey stored on farms varies depending on the volume of production and the number of families. Beekeepers keep 20% of honey for their own needs, and sell the remaining 80% either from the apiary or at the local market, where honey was sold at retail prices. Beekeepers with 50 families also keep 20% of all honey production, 55% retail, and sell a quarter to large buyers. Beekeepers with 100 families had the following honey sales structure: they kept 10% of the total amount for themselves, 20% sold at retail and 70% sold to large buyers. Finally, beekeepers with 200 colonies and above left 10% of honey and sell the same amount at retail, and most (80%) are rented to large buyers.

Honey is the most important product of Serbian apiaries, the income from the sale of honey is about 90% of their total income.
In order to make the product recognizable by packaging, most beekeepers pack their honey in a standard glass jar of a special shape, which was created by the Association of Beekeepers of Serbia, in which 1 kg of honey is placed. The use of such packaging can have many advantages. In addition to providing product differentiation, such packaging can also serve as a guarantee of quality.

A large amount of Serbian honey is sold packaged in small containers.

 

Diseases of bees in beekeeping in Serbia

In Serbian beekeeping, dangerous diseases are American foulbrood, European foulbrood, varroatosis and nosemosis. In addition to these diseases, outbreaks of ascospherosis, aspergillosis, deformed wing virus (DWV), black queen cell virus (BQCV), chronic bee paralysis virus (CBPV), acute bee paralysis virus (ABPV) and sacbrood virus (SBV) are observed in Serbian apiaries. .

Varroatosis is quite common, nosematosis affects about 11% of apiaries. American foulbrood, occurring in spring and autumn, affects 3% of apiaries. Viral diseases are much less common, occurring in less than 1%. Mixed viral infections are usually found. DWV was most prevalent in strong colonies, BQCV, ABPV, and CBPV were most common in moderately strong colonies, and SBV was most prevalent in weak colonies. Ascospherosis, aspergillosis and European foulbrood occur only occasionally, most often in an apiary that is in a neglected state and adequate care for the bees has not been applied.