Bee farms produced 26 tons of honey in southern Kandahar province this year, recording an 18 percent increase compared to last year.
Eng. Mohahmmadullah Noori, livestock promotion managing director at the agriculture department of Kandahar, told Pajhwok Afghan News that 102 big and small bee farms existed in the province, with each having five to 450 bee boxes.
He said the farms this solar year produced 26 tons of bee which showed over eight tons increase in production compared to last year, when bee farms produced 18,018 kilograms of bee.
Noori said bee farms in Kandahar were giving better results and many people visited the agriculture department on a daily basis for building their own bee farms.
He said the first bee farm in Kandahar was built in 2008 and many others were built in following three years, but they were failed due to lack of experiences of bee keepers.
Noori added that bee keepers again started building bee farms after 2011 and the farmers this time succeeded in their business.
In 2015, the farms produced significant amount of honey and it encouraged more people to open similar farms in the province, he added.
Currently two types of honey are popular in Kandahar, one from basil flower and another from cardamom, he said.
With many bee farms operating, now seven companies are also active in the industry, he said.
Noori said these companies processed and packaged honey and then offered it to the market.
Bee produced in Kandahar is exported to Kabul, Farah, Helmand and a number of other provinces but not abroad due to high transport costs.
He said Kandahar honey was also tested in a French laboratory and secured the first position in quality compared to honey produced in other provinces of the country.
About problems plaguing bee farms, he said despite training 375 people in beekeeping, there was still shortage of professionals.
He said they had asked the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock to provide a laboratory for Kandahar bee farms, but their request was yet to be responded.
Noori said hat Kandahar climate suited bee farms as people from central provinces had also shifted their farms to the province.
Ghulam Rasoul, a bee farm owner, said he has 400 bee boxes and is happy with his business.
“Drought affects honey production but greenery and more flowers increase the honey produce.”
He complained that local honey has no foreign market and all is sold domestically. Rasoul added the Agriculture Ministry did not help the honey industry the way it should.
Citing as an example, he said they were given medicines for distribution to farmers when they were expired.
He also complained against police saying bees’ owners are extorted by police when they transfer bee boxes from one place to another.
Abdul Bari, another bee farm owner in Kandahar, said he obtained honey from basil flower which has a very good market.
He said five years back he started the bee farming from four bee boxes and currently their number was 350.
Abdul Bari claimed that in the past there was no culture of bee farming in Kandahar and he was the pioneer of this profession in the province.
He not only keeps bees but for promotion of this industry he sells them to other people as well.
Merza Ahmad, owner of Al Makka Honey Centre, said honey market is linked with weather conditions. “It has good season in winter but it declines in summer. People believe that honey is hot. He said he sold 10 to 50 kilograms of honey daily.
