TEHRAN- The director-general of Lorestan province’s Veterinary Department said that over 4,000 tons of honey is produced in the province per annum.

Mostafa Zebardast said that there are 450,000 hives in over 3,700 apiaries in the province at the present.

He said that this industry needs as much support as possible from the related organizations as well as pursuing branding to be present in global, regional and domestic markets.

As announced by an official with Iran’s Agriculture Ministry, the country’s honey production per capita stands at 1.415 kilograms.

Mohammad-Ebrahim Hassan-Nejad, the deputy minister for livestock products affairs, also put the country’s honey consumption per capita at 1.397 kilograms.

He has also said that 155,000 people are working in the apiaries of the country, adding this number of people are working in 94,932 apiaries.

Based on the data released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Iran is the third-largest producer of honey in the world.

The chairman of the Animal Science Research Institute has said that the amount of honey production in the country should be increased by three to four kilograms per colony.

Mokhtar Mohajer said, “According to the Seventh National Development Plan (2022-2026), the amount of honey production should be increased by at least three to four kilograms per colony according to the diversity of plants and the area of pastures that we have in the country”.

He announced that 8,300 kilograms of royal jelly, 406 tons of pollen, 2,536 tons of beeswax, 247 tons of propolis, and 3,917 grams of bee venom are produced annually in the country.

MA