Beekeeping: National Honey Production Reaches 7,500 Tons in 2021 (Minister)

Rabat – The national production of honey reached 7,500 tons in 2021, said Tuesday in Rabat, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of Relations with the Parliament, government spokesman, Mustapha Baitas.

In response to a question at the House of Advisors about the “disappearance of bee colonies”, read on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Baitas said that the production of honey in 2021 amounted to 7,500 tons, stressing that this sector represents many job opportunities.

It is also, he said, one of the benefits of the Green Morocco Plan (PMV), which has endeavored to organize and streamline the operation of sectors and strengthen production.

The Minister highlighted the efforts made to address the phenomenon of disappearance of bee colonies, noting that about 23,000 hives have been visited, monitored and inspected in various regions of Morocco. The results of laboratory analysis conducted on hives and nurseries have ruled out the likelihood of disease affecting this insect, he said.

He stressed that the National Office of Food Safety (ONSSA) has established a multidisciplinary committee of experts to continue research and studies on this phenomenon, noting that the Office is committed to deepen field investigations in collaboration with beekeepers to identify the factors behind this phenomenon.

Baitas also noted that a sum of 130 million dirhams has been allocated for the implementation of a program, including a series of measures, notably a national campaign to treat hives against disease and reconstruction of infected hives through the distribution of new populations of bees, strengthening the studies and research conducted and the development of a national database for the registration of beekeepers and this, as part of the efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forestry to reduce the impact of this phenomenon.

The Ministry, he said, gives particular importance to this subject in the sense that beekeeping contributes not only to national production, but also to the revitalization of tourism in several regions of the Kingdom.