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SORAN, Kurdistan Region - The Kurdistan Region has the ideal conditions for beekeeping to flourish due to its terrain and climate however, local produce competes with imported honey sold on the market at a much cheaper price.
Wildflowers are able to thrive in the mountains of the Kurdistan Region, but beekeepers are struggling to keep their businesses alive.
Foreign honey imports are obstructing the development of the beekeeping sector in the Kurdistan Region. Customers complain that local honey is highly priced and opt for the cheaper imported product, causing local producers to run at a loss.
Local honey producers are reluctant to use cheaper ingredients as this will affect the quality of the product. Hamadamin Grgi, a beekeeper from the Kurdistan Region, made around two tons of honey last year.
“I need to provide pure honey to my customers. The customers always complain about the honey. We do not want to give artificial sugars [sucrose] to our bees,” Hamadamin Grgi, a bee-keeper, told Rudaw’s Baxtyar Qadir on Sunday. He added that the main challenge local producers face is that “Iranian honey gets imported and we cannot sell ours.”
“We buy Iranian honey from Erbil and Sulaimani. The price of Iranian honey is cheaper and most people can afford it, but the local ones are expensive. We consume 10 to 20 tons of Iranian honey,” Yassin Hamad, a local honey seller and shop-owner, said.
Around 700 tons of honey were produced in the Region last year and at least 1,200 tons of honey are sold annually in Kurdish markets, according to the Beekeepers Network Association of Kurdistan.
Wildflowers are able to thrive in the mountains of the Kurdistan Region, but beekeepers are struggling to keep their businesses alive.
Foreign honey imports are obstructing the development of the beekeeping sector in the Kurdistan Region. Customers complain that local honey is highly priced and opt for the cheaper imported product, causing local producers to run at a loss.
Local honey producers are reluctant to use cheaper ingredients as this will affect the quality of the product. Hamadamin Grgi, a beekeeper from the Kurdistan Region, made around two tons of honey last year.
“I need to provide pure honey to my customers. The customers always complain about the honey. We do not want to give artificial sugars [sucrose] to our bees,” Hamadamin Grgi, a bee-keeper, told Rudaw’s Baxtyar Qadir on Sunday. He added that the main challenge local producers face is that “Iranian honey gets imported and we cannot sell ours.”
“We buy Iranian honey from Erbil and Sulaimani. The price of Iranian honey is cheaper and most people can afford it, but the local ones are expensive. We consume 10 to 20 tons of Iranian honey,” Yassin Hamad, a local honey seller and shop-owner, said.
Around 700 tons of honey were produced in the Region last year and at least 1,200 tons of honey are sold annually in Kurdish markets, according to the Beekeepers Network Association of Kurdistan.
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