Baladi News - al-Quneitra (Musa al-Ahmed)
Syrian Veterinarians and agricultural experts appealed to Food and Agriculture Organization "FAO" to intervene and save the lives of bees in the country. They also called upon the organization to support beekeepers and warned of the very bad consequences of the potential disappearance of such species on the environment after their deterioration due to the war that entered its sixth year.
War caused a decline in bee breeding, because of several factors including unstable security situations and expensive costs for taking care of it, which had negative impacts on thousands of families living on bee breeding.
Thanks to its varied and appropriate climates, Syria is known for its high quality honey production. In addition, the Syrian bees, bred in different parts of the country, are of the famous strains in the world because of their ability to survive different weather circumstances.
Abu al-Baraa, a beekeeper from Quneitra countryside, confirms that bee breeding career declined nowadays because of expensive fuel and difficult transportation of bees to cotton and black seed pastures located in the eastern areas that are held by the Islamic state and subject to shelling by the Syrian regime.
Abu al-Baraa added that “logging and deforestation caused a 75% loss in bee’s population in the area,” considering that “lack of the liberated areas of medicines and raw materials, such as wax and wood, which are used for repairing cells. For this reason, we only have to buy such materials at double the prices from the regime-held areas, which means that we would raise honey prices three folds.”
Aby Bakr, a farmer from Idlib countryside said “there is a strong and inevitable relation between bees and agricultural environment,” indicating that the declined agriculture caused honey production to wane.
The speaker added that “Bees are one of most important auxiliaries for pollinating the blossoms of fruit trees as well as some crops and vegetables. They raise production of crops by more than 25%, which contributes to increase the profits. As such, the decline in bees breeding would ultimately lead to decline in agriculture.”
Veterinarian “Abu Omar” confirmed that “Any other strain would have perished in such circumstances. The Syrian strain is the best in the world in terms of surviving long winter using a minimum amount of sugar as well as producing royal jelly.”
Aby Omar added that the Syrian strain is superior to all foreign strains in withstanding poor pastures conditions. Despite that, there have been big declines in bee populations recently.”
Honey has also medical importance since it is considered a cure for many diseases. Its usage increased in makeshift hospitals because it is known to be the best disinfectant and wound restorer.