Moldovan beekeepers to produce certified ecological honey

Chisinau, 11 December /MOLDPRES/ - About 50 beekeepers from Moldova will produce certified ecological honey, after they have successfully passed a period of conversion from the production of conventional honey to the ecological one.   

With the support of the USAID High Value Agriculture Project, the Regina Naturii (The Queen of Nature) company for purchasing and export of honey identified and assisted more beekeepers willing to produce ecological honey for export to the European market. During 12 months, beekeepers have implemented more requirements allowing them to ask for the certification of ecological honey. The compulsory requirements for certification includes the manufacturing of bee-families and apicultural materials from natural material, placing of bee-families far from diverse pollution sources, where bees have enough natural sources of nectar, sweet secretions, pollen, made up of ecological crops or of crops subjected to treatments with low impact on the environment.     

According to experts, the ecological honey is a niche product, with wide prospects for export, which is assessed at a higher price by up to 50 per cent against the price offered for the conventional honey.   

Beekeepers estimate an overall production of about 150 tons of ecological honey in 2019, which will be exported both packed and unpacked.

At present, there are more than 6,800 bee gardens with about 225,000 bee families in Moldova. Official data shows that about 5,000 tons of natural honey has been produced in 2018. At the same time, this year, about 2,700 tons of honey was exported to the European Union, which is presently the main sales market for the Moldovan honey.