Azerbaijan to produce "smart beehives”

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Beekeeping is not only a strategic industry, it is the development of ecology, the increase of pollination intensity in nature.

Azerbaijan has achieved clear success in the development of beekeeping and is almost completely self-sufficient in the honey of its own production. Over the 12 years since the adoption of the law on beekeeping, honey production has increased by 4.7 times, and the number of bee families by 4.2 times.

 “Smart beehives”

The country plans to create up to 500,000 “smart beehives” a year, which will allow for intensive development of beekeeping using new innovative technologies in a short period of time.

The hives will contain sensors that measure temperature, humidity, light, and atmospheric pressure. In addition, the hives will be equipped with scales that measure the volume of honey produced by the bees.

According to the project, the software will transmit information to the farmer about the location, opening, and closing of the hives, and warn about theft if unauthorized people open the hive.

The initial stage of the production process will employ 20 people who plan to create 500,000 "smart beehives" per year. It will allow the intensive development of beekeeping with the use of new innovative technologies on the liberated territories of Azerbaijan in the short term.

Statistics

According to the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan, in 2020, the country had 32,300 beekeeping farms and 596,000 bee families. In addition, the country produced 6,647 tons of honey, 157 tons of beeswax, and 366 kg of bee royal jelly.

The development of beekeeping is supported by the state. The decree of the Azerbaijani president of March 5, 2018, "on stimulation of beekeeping development in Azerbaijan" established a subsidy of AZN 10 ($0.59) per bee family for individuals and legal entities engaged in beekeeping.

Another presidential decree dated June 27, 2019, "on the creation of a new mechanism of subsidies in the agricultural sector," determines the amount of subsidies to beekeepers based on the results of the annual monitoring of beehives.

As of the end of 2021, more than 21,000 beekeepers received subsidies from the state.

The establishment of honey export is considered one of the important directions of development of Azerbaijani beekeeping, but the efforts in this area have not yet shown the desired results. One of the reasons for this is the lack of the local laboratory for honey quality control, due to which honey samples have to be sent to Turkey for testing. Against the background of the coronavirus epidemic, this entails additional difficulties and costs.

At the same time, Azerbaijan's honey imports have been increasing in recent years.

Currently, the price of honey averages AZN 25 ($14.7) per kilogram.

Beekeeping in liberated lands

Beekeeping was one of the developing areas in Karabakh. After the liberation of the lands, beekeeping began to develop again in this region.

Last year, for the first time in 28 years Azerbaijan got honey from beehives in Kalbajar region. More than 4,000 bee families were relocated to Kalbajar and Lachin under a pilot project of Azerbaijan’s Agriculture Ministry.

Thus, a total of 4,068 bee colonies were transferred to the liberated territories within the pilot project, including 531 bee colonies from 15 beekeeping farms to Lachin pastures.

Karabakh's honey will become a brand, and in terms of quality will be as good as from other parts of the country.