Rural Damascus - SANA
His seventy years did not prevent the beekeeper Khaled al-Boushi from returning to the starting point and trying again. After he built his apiary step by step over the years to become 100 cells producing tons of honey, they were destroyed by terrorism and the livelihoods of many in Eastern Ghouta in the countryside of Damascus, but his love for the profession and his determination pushed him to start again With six cells and a lot of hope.
Al-Boushi, who started his project in the field of beekeeping in the eighties of the last century in the Nashabiyeh area in the Eastern Ghouta, with a modest farm and a few cells ranging from 10 to 15 hives, he says to the representative of Sana that my project in the beginning was about old mud hives that I transformed with time into modern wooden hives and I had an apiary And a warehouse for production requirements and the number of cells increased year after year to reach more than 100 cells.
Al-Boushi explains that Eastern Ghouta was the main headquarters for the beehives, and with the beginning of the spring and after the end of the flower season in the region, the bees were transferred to cooler areas, especially the areas of anise cultivation until the autumn, to be returned to Ghouta in order to collect honey and prepare for the next season, indicating that his apiary produced tons of Honey, in addition to beehives, was providing assistance to up-and-coming beekeepers to establish their own apiaries until terrorism struck the area and destroyed and burned the apiary, including what pushed him out of his profession for a period of time.
With the army restoring security and safety to Eastern Ghouta, Bouchi returned to his farm to see the destruction caused by terrorism and said, “At first I felt sad and desperate, but my love for the profession pushed me to try again and it did not help me obtain a grant from the Arab Beekeepers Union, which helped secure aid for the beekeepers affected by terrorism, as I got six cells. We dissolve and started a business that has now expanded to more than 50 cells.
Al-Boushi also works as a teacher at the Agricultural Technical Institute in Damascus and he was supervising the apiaries of the institute and at the same time helping in giving lessons on beekeeping. Among his students was the beekeeper Khaled al-Nadr, who has been working in the profession for more than twenty years. He and his fellow beekeepers owned a gathering of bees in Eastern Ghouta. “.
Al-Nadhar said in a statement to SANA that the number of apiaries ranged between 500 and 600 before the war, and their production was in tons, so we used to supply the shops with large quantities of pure natural honey, but terrorism destroyed our project and our production became non-existent, and today we gradually restart work.
Regarding the difficulties faced by beekeepers, Al-Nadhar explained that the high prices of materials and production requirements of wood, wax and medicines stand in the way of the work of beekeepers, pointing out that as a beekeeper, he suffers from the problem of infecting bees with some diseases such as “Varroa and Nosema”, calling on the concerned authorities and the Ministry of Agriculture to find and adopt a proven medicine It is known worldwide for these diseases.
Al-Nadr called for the rehabilitation of the sawmills for the establishment of wooden beehives, especially the sawmill, which is centered in Eastern Ghouta, since the prices of wooden beehives have become "beyond the beekeepers' capacity."
Bushra Barhoum
