As collecting honey comes into season Gaza beekeepers are facing serious challenges. Unstable climate along with the deadly pesticides sprayed by Israeli planes on Palestinian lands resulted in decreasing the expected rates of honey production.
Malik Qudih a beekeeper from Khuza’a area east of Khan Yunis Governorate in the southern Gaza Strip stressed the radical effect of these challenges on the livelihood of Gaza beekeepers who depend solely on this career.
“This year witnessed the most significant cut back in the production of honey” Qudih underlined.
He said that the expected rate of honey production is 7 to 8 kilos per hive while the actual production this year was only 2 to 3 kilos per hive.
Meanwhile the beekeeper Fahd Dahduh said that he decided to postpone harvesting honey for another week asserting that the predicted cold spell would significantly delay the production of honey.
Dahduh who owns 50 bee hives urged the concerned authorities to protect the local production and prohibit imports of honey during this particular time when the local production is available in the markets.
For his part Adham El-Bassiouni spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza predicted the production of 200 tons of honey during the current season in Gaza which he said does not meet the overall local demand.
Bassiouni added that apiculture has been rising over the past decade in Gaza pointing out that the number of hives had increased to 25000 hives.
He underlined that his ministry gives priority to the local produce and only allows imports of honey to meet the local demand.
