Pakistan’s honey production has the potential to increase ten-fold if modern technologies and practices are adopted, a research report has revealed.
According to the report by the China-Pakistan Agricultural and Industrial Information Cooperation Platform (CAPIC), Pakistan’s current honey production is over 4,000 tons annually. It not only can rise above 70,000 tons per year but can create around 87,000 green jobs if production technologies and standard production procedures are reconciled with the latest international standards.
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CAPIC report added that laboratory tests in the US and Europe have declared Pakistani honey of superior quality based on its total sugar, acidity, pH value, HMF invert sugar, proline, protein, and other essential nutrients levels.
Unfortunately, this lucrative industry has yet to achieve its full potential due to its low yield. In 2019, each beekeeper produced 11.7 kg of honey in Pakistan on average while the world’s average was 20.6 kg. Nectariferous plants falling victim to pesticides, the absence of modern technologies, and the lack of a certification system are some of the reasons behind the low yield of Pakistani honey.
In this regard, Pakistan can learn a lot from China in large-scale apiculture, nectariferous plant growing, and bee breeding, which is the largest honey producer in the world, the report stated.
Over the years, the Chinese government enforced national policies to support beekeepers and gradually increased the adoption of scientific beekeeping, causing the country’s honey production to increase manifold. Most local governments in China have employed apiculture as a method of poverty alleviation and rural revitalization.
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Besides, Pakistan can export the by-products of large-scale apiculture such as bee milk, beeswax, and propolis, which can bring in more foreign exchange than honey.
CAPIC has also recommended the Pakistani government intervene in beekeeping areas, develop the industry value chain, and connect beekeepers with regional and national markets.
