Damascus-Sana
With the participation of 34 beekeepers from the public and private sectors, the activities of the second Syrian Honey Festival, which will continue until the twenty-second of this month, were launched on the grounds of the Al-Galaa Sports City in Damascus.
The festival, which is held by the Arab Beekeepers Union (Syria Municipality) in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, under the title “Honey ... Food, Medicine and Cure” includes the products of the Syrian beekeepers that are quality-guaranteed and subject to analysis in addition to production requirements, wooden beehives, medical and food industries from the materials produced by bees.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, Engineer Muhammad Hassan Qatna, stressed in a press statement the importance of the festival as it constitutes a step for the opening of an exhibition of Syrian bee products and contributes to encouraging breeders to return to establishing beehives again and returning the profession to its previous glory.
Minister Qatana stated that five honey testing centers are currently being established in various governorates, and through them, honey will not be allowed to be supplied until after analyzing it and attaching the results of the analysis to each package and registering it with the ministry to ensure that the consumer is reliable and not adulterated.
In turn, the head of the Arab Beekeepers Union in Syria, Iyad Daaboul, stressed the union’s endeavor, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, to rebuild the bee sector and encourage breeders and practitioners of the profession to restore what terrorism has ruined in this sector, pointing out that the second honey festival is distinguished from its first session by increasing and diversifying the wings and expanding in terms of the spaces allocated For each participant, in addition to expanding the type and quantity of products and requirements of the bee sector.
The director of the Arab Beekeepers Union, Engineer Fattouh Jumaa, explained that the aim of the festival is to link the product to the consumer and the lighting in this development sector, pointing out that what distinguishes the festival this year is the introduction of new things that serve the bee sector and inventions that benefit in developing beekeeping during the cold season in addition to holding seminars on the sidelines of the festival in this regard Of particular.
A number of the participants in the exhibition expressed in their statements to the SANA delegate the importance of the festival, which lies in introducing the Syrian honey, its quality and types, in addition to allowing the exchange of experiences between the exhibitors, knowing the experiences and benefiting from them, considering the festival an economic, scientific and practical activity of marketing value.
The number of beehives in Syria is currently 350,000, and the current number is still less than the numbers that were available before the terrorist war, which at that time reached 600,000.
Bushra Barhoum
