The problems in the "beekeeping" sector in our country continue to deepen. More and more producers of Bulgarian honey in Southwestern Bulgaria are abandoning or selling their apiaries, reports BNT.
Ralitsa Petkova, Beekeepers' Association in Southwestern Bulgaria: "Unfortunately, the prospects for development in the beekeeping sector in the last few years have been extremely unprofitable. It is very difficult in the beekeeping sector. And the yields that are expected this year, in our opinion, will be significantly lower, since we know that we went through a difficult winter with an extremely large number of losses of bee colonies. Accordingly, this will also reflect on the yields, since the fellow beekeepers who lost their bee colonies, the main role this season will be to first restore their apiaries, fill their hives and then the emphasis and concentration of what they have the opportunity to produce honey will be. Accordingly, the quantity will be as many percent lower as the losses in the number of bee colonies."
Beekeepers expect and hope that the price per kilogram of Bulgarian honey will increase to 18 - 20 leva.
"We all know that in principle the quantity that is produced also affects the price that is then formed. We personally, beekeepers, hope that its price will increase a little, since for many years we have been suffering from the fact that honey is extremely undervalued. Since I was a child, I personally know from my grandfather that the price of a kilogram of Bulgarian honey has varied and was as much as the price of 1 kg of butter. We all know the price of butter at the moment. Of course, the Bulgarian consumer cannot afford to talk about such a price, but people should know that this is the real price of honey. Currently, the jar is going for around 15 leva, but we beekeepers would really like and strongly hope that the price will increase a little and we will get closer to the order of 18 - 20 leva per kilogram of Bulgarian honey," explained Ralitsa Petkova.
According to her words at an exhibition of honey producers from the Balkans in Belgrade last year, 1 kilogram of polyfloral honey was traded for 10 euros, and monofloral honeys (for example, from acacia, mandarin, etc.) cost about 15 euros per kilogram.
In different regions of the country, the losses of bee colonies are different.
"In Blagoevgrad region, the losses in terms of number are not so significant, because after all, our apiaries are smaller than bee colonies and we are included in this 10% natural mortality rate for beekeeping. But colleagues who have larger farms, respectively, the number of losses is greater. The United Branch Beekeeping Union reports data from 50% to 70% losses. We hope that they are not so many, so that the sector can recover more easily."