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SAYON, May 14 (Saba) – Bees sector in Yemen has witnessed qualitative leaps and developments in the production of honey over the past twenty years.

The production of honey has doubled about eight times and reached to 6,000 tons annually, with a total value estimated at YR 14 billion, while the total value of the exported honey amounted to USD 14 million.

The number of beekeepers has increased twenty times to reach more than 82,000 beekeepers throughout the country. And the hives of bees have increased to approximately nine times since the declaration of the Republic of Yemen in1990 and reached to 1.2 million hives.

Director of Honeybees Center at the University of Hadramout for Science and Technology Dr. Mohamed Khanbash mentioned this to Saba, pointing out that what distinguishes the sector of bees is that it absorbs large numbers of employment.

This sector also contributes very significantly to the fight against poverty, where the financing funds and the development projects focus on the training of beekeepers and raise their knowledge and practical abilities to exploit optimally the honeybees, Dr. Khanbash added.

He noted that it still until recently the target of bees is the production of honey and only in recent years the thinking of other bee products began, like royal food, wax, bees' gum, pollen and bee venom through the training of beekeepers to produce the royal food, and promotion of the use of bees wax which is usually thrown and wasted.

These developments in this sector stemmed from the sound trends of the government to encourage the bees sector, as honey bees is one of the five strategic crops that are given big attention by the Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation, Dr. Khanbash explained.

He noted the high popularity of Yemeni honey, particularly that produced in Hadramout Valley and specifically Doan honey, which is one of the most expensive honey in the world.

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Saba