Development of beekeeping in East Kazakhstan (on the example of the farm "Apiary")

Since 2010, at all levels of the executive bodies of the region and its regions, beekeeping has received a new additional impetus in its development.

Effective measures have been taken to bring these industries to new frontiers in their development.

So, in the beekeeping industry, a course was taken on:

- increase in the number of bee colonies;

- creation of breeding apiaries;

- increase in the number of large industrial apiaries and the introduction of industrial technologies for the production and processing of products on them;

- training of beekeepers;

- state support of the industry through subsidies.

The analysis of the work done on the development of beekeeping and the results confirmed the correctness of the chosen path and the measures taken.

The training of the specialty "beekeeper" has begun on the basis of the East Kazakhstan Agricultural College, where in 2022 the graduation of specialists amounted to 14 people.

In order to further develop beekeeping, honey fairs have been traditionally held in Ust-Kamenogorsk over the past 10 years, which are attended by representatives of the business circles of the region and beekeepers of Kazakhstan.

On August 30 of this year, the Department of Agriculture plans to hold a traditional event "Honey Fair-2023" in the central square of Ust-Kamenogorsk with the participation of beekeepers of districts and cities of the region. This event is scheduled for the Constitution Day of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In order to provide methodological and advisory assistance to beekeepers in conducting breeding work, the Republican Chamber of Beekeeping has been established in Kazakhstan since 2016, which is a subject in the field of livestock breeding.

Breeding apiaries and ongoing scientific work in the beekeeping industry of the East Kazakhstan region occupy a leading place in the Republic.

In 2022, 16.9 thousand breeding bee families were registered in the Republican Chamber of Beekeeping, the share of the total number is 18.6%. At the same time, the economic entities engaged in breeding beekeeping have grown, their number has increased from 31 to 38 units.

As of January 1, 2023, according to the Department of Statistics, the number of bee colonies in all categories of farms in the region amounted to more than 90.9 thousand, or compared to 2022, increased by more than 1.5 thousand bee colonies. At the same time, the bulk of the number of bee colonies is concentrated:

- in the Katon-Karagai district, 26.2 thousand or 29% of the total bee colonies,

- there are 19.1 thousand or 21 in the Altai region%,

- in the Glubokiv district , 19.2 thousand or 21.1%,

- in Ust-Kamenogorsk – 6.8 thousand or 7.5%,

- in Ulan district more than 5.5 thousand or 6.0%.

The Central Russian (9.4 thousand), Ukrainian (1.2 thousand) and Carpathian (6.3 thousand) bee breeds are bred in the region.

Natural honey is a brand of East Kazakhstan.

For several years, the region has maintained a stable level of honey production, about 2,000 tons.

In 2022, honey production in the region amounted to 1.8 thousand tons compared to 2021, it decreased by more than 0.81 thousand tons.

The implemented measures for the further development of beekeeping became possible thanks to the state support of this industry:

- in 2020, 19.4 thousand bee colonies in the amount of 97.1 million tenge were subsidized in the region,

- in 2021, more than 14.8 thousand bee colonies in the amount of 74.3 million tenge,

- in 2022, 8.8 thousand breeding bee colonies paid 44.2 million tenge of subsidies for conducting breeding work with bee colonies.

According to the Rules for subsidizing the development of livestock breeding, increasing the productivity and quality of livestock products, approved by Order No. 108 of the Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated March 15, 2019, subsidizing breeding work with bee colonies is carried out at the expense of the local budget.

In 2023, 65,620.0 thousand tenge was allocated for subsidizing selection and breeding work with bee colonies, of which all applications held in reserve in 2022 in the amount of 57,040.0 thousand tenge were paid in early May of this year.

The Republic of Kazakhstan exported 83 thousand 547 kg of honey in 2021, the total customs value of these products amounted to 32.6 million tenge. Of the total volume of exports, 82% or 68.5 tons were shipped to Uzbekistan. Kazakh honey was also supplied to Mongolia, China, Singapore and Japan, 94% of all supplies are accounted for by four Kazakhstani exporters, among them the Apiary farm from the East Kazakhstan region.

KH "Apiary" in 2021 entered the top four honey exporters in Kazakhstan in terms of exports, 62,800 kg of honey or 85% of all Kazakh exports were exported, of which 1.5 - to the Arab Emirates, 60.0 - to China, 1.3 tons – to Cyprus.

On the basis of the farm "Apiary" there is: a production shop for packing and storing beekeeping products, an automatic line for packing honey into blister packaging and a wax processing and wax production workshop.

In 2022, the export of honey in the region amounted to 6.3 tons.

Kazakhstan has developed technical documentation for the production of organic bee products. Earlier, mass training of beekeepers was organized with the involvement of experts from Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

In 2019-2020, contracts for the export of honey to China, the USA, the UAE, Cyprus were fulfilled. The State Quarantine Inspection of China conducted a three-time inspection of apiaries in East Kazakhstan and made a selection of farms that meet the requirements of organic beekeeping products. In the fall of 2019, the basic farm of VKSHOS LLP, the Apiary farm, received the certification of Eco Honey bee products from the Quarantine Inspection of China."