Beekeeping And Its Role In The World Economy

Beekeeping is a very promising branch of agriculture, related to many others, as it affects the process of pollination of plants and productivity in general. That is why beekeeping plays a significant role in the economy of many countries. 

Ten leading countries in honey production and export in the world: China, USA, Argentina, Turkey, Ukraine, Mexico, Russia, India, Ethiopia, Spain. However, in most of these countries, industrial production is not well established.

For many less developed countries, whose economy is largely influenced by agrarian industry, beekeeping is a chance to fight poverty. The standard of living in some of them has increased significantly over the past decades. Apicultureplayed a significant role in this. At the same time, in almost all such cases, the state's interest in the development of the industry, its contribution to the growth of the economy, is noticeable. First of all, it is necessary to name individual countries of Latin America. Having a significant honey-bearing base, a rather favorable state of ecology and, accordingly, not very developed industrial production, they managed in a relatively short time after carrying out the necessary reforms and significant financing of the industry to achieve noticeable results, return the invested funds and raise the standard of living of the population. As a rule, these countries specialize in the production of environmentally friendly beekeeping products . Nicaragua became the first country whose individual farms received a certificate confirming the production of ecologically clean honey by them. But the main exportersof honey in this part of the world became Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. It is possible to note the state financing of the industry for the creation of its own laboratories for quality control of beekeeping products and the provision of preferential loans to beekeepers . As a separate point, we can mention that these countries have changed the species of bees to increase productivity . African honey bees turned out to be more productive, completely resistant to the mite, and at the same time, they were noted for their uncontrolled aggression. And yet some of the beekeepers , who influenced the development of the industry, managed to adapt to this terrible species. Another country that should be mentioned is Cuba, where many conditions have been created for the development of beekeeping, it is forbidden to grow genetically modified products and use many chemical preparations for the treatment of bees .

Another part of the world, whose countries are also significantly interested in the development of beekeeping on their territory, is the Far East. China is the world's leading exporter of honey . Low wages and a large number of workers in this country led to the possibility of producing a significant amount of honey of low cost, however, not very high quality - this is also influenced by the fact that the state does not provide much for the industry. They also specialize in fakes, in particular, they make natural Altai honey , which is much cheaper than in Russia. Low quality honeyalso in India, during an EU inspection it was found to have residues of pesticides and heavy metal salts. China traditionally smuggles its goods through India and Pakistan, from time to time international experts try to track this phenomenon. Vietnam is in a different situation, where as a result of state reforms regarding the development of beekeeping and product quality control, the export of honey has significantly increased , in particular to the USA and EU countries. 

In many African countries, a significant part of the population is employed in the agricultural sector, in particular in beekeeping , simply because they no longer have the choice of self-realization. It should be noted separately that Ethiopia is a country that is allowed to sell honey to EU countries. The products are environmentally friendly, a significant role in this is played by the fact that they, like many other countries in Africa, do not have money for pesticides to treat the fields. They do not have their own laboratories for quality control, so the quality control of their honey is carried out in Germany. The Ethiopian government has repeatedly made attempts to modernize the industry, but so far they have not been very successful. 

It should also be noted that beekeeping is more profitable in countries whose economies are not very developed. Obviously, the ratio of the value of honey in relation to the dollar rate and the currency rate in their country plays a role here - simply put, what can be bought in this country for the money received from the sale of a certain amount of honey. That is why a beekeeper in a country with a not very developed economy needs to keep 150-200 beehives to feed his family, while in the USA, Canada, EU countries and Australia the minimum number is about 500. At the same time, they make a significant part of the profits are received from plantation pollination contracts. Nevertheless, these difficulties are fully compensated by the fact that countries with a high level of economy have the opportunity to significantly finance the industry, in some of them beekeeping exists almost exclusively due to support from the state. In developed countries, the main purpose of supporting this industry is to ensure pollination of plants, production of honey and beekeeping products is already in second place. In some of them, the development of this industry is at a high level,a beekeeper who is just starting his activity receives all the necessary equipment from the state. The tax system for the agricultural sector is minimal, the production of individual honey -based products does not require a license, therefore individual apiaries, in addition to directly breeding bees and obtaining honey , are also involved in the food industry.

 It is much more difficult for countries located in the post-Soviet space. After the collapse of the USSR, the economy of each of them was left to fend for itself. In some countries, such as Azerbaijan or Uzbekistan, the authorities, having decided to use the experience of developed countries and considering the significant potential of the beekeeping industry in their country, took the first steps towards development in this area, in particular, reduced taxation. In general, most countries do not have quality control laboratories and money to build them, as well as a special desire on the part of the state to intervene to improve the economy of the industry. It also plays the role of environmental pollution with toxic chemicals, which, surprisingly, do not cost money. I would like to highlight some aspects of the development of beekeepingin Belarus. Realizing that help from the state cannot be waited for, the beekeepers of this country began to unite in cooperatives in order to improve the profitability of their business. This made it possible to rent premises and open stores of beekeeping products with joint funds, as well as purchase the necessary equipment by the group at a lower price. Ukraine has a significant potential for the development of beekeeping , but in combination with the problems of the industry, inherent in almost all post-Soviet countries. 

World experience shows that the state of beekeeping in the country directly depends on the degree of interest of the state in the development of the industry. Individual cases when the state does not finance beekeeping in any way , but it develops successfully, testify to the interest of a large part of citizens in the development of the industry as the main or additional source of their income.