RAWALPINDI: Beekeeping is a profitable business and its production can be increased only by taking strict steps to control deforestation and pesticide use in agriculture, experts said on Tuesday.

They also advised the government to help beekeepers by improving the value chain industry and make their access easy not only for national but foreign markets.

They said this while speaking at the inaugural session of a three-day training workshop on Queen Rearing and Modern Beekeeping at Arid University on Tuesday.

The workshop was organised by the Department of Entomology under the project ‘Billion Tree Honey Initiative’ with an aim to create awareness of value added products of honeybees and to provide an excellent orientation for starting beekeeping as a hobby and a profitable enterprise.

The university’s Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Qamaruz Zaman was the chief guest while more than 30 participants including professional beekeepers, persons interested in starting beekeeping, students and researchers attended the workshop.

The participants will get hands-on training in queen breeding, reduction in post-harvest losses, colony management, honey extraction techniques, nutrition, pests and diseases and pollination of entomophilous crops and so on.

Dr Qamaruz Zaman, highlighting the importance of bees’ flora and wildlife said bee farming should be promoted in the country,adding that the workshop is an excellent orientation for those starting beekeeping as a profitable enterprise. He appreciated efforts of the Department of Entomology for organising the workshop and hoped that the department will continue its efforts in the future by organising such trainings, adding thattechnical expertise and practical training is necessary for beekeeping.

He urged the university’s faculty to start teaching, training and research work on honeybee breeding and management for production of honey and other by-products, in order to earn foreign exchange through export of bee products.

On the occasion, Prof Dr Fayyazul Hassan Sahi, Prof Dr M. Naeem (chairman of the Entomology department) and Dr Mohammad Asif Aziz (assistant professor) also addressed participants of the event and gave a brief introduction of beekeeping in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2022