"Abu Dhabi Agriculture".. sustainable support for the development of the Emirati bee strain
Abu Dhabi, May 20 / WAM / The Abu Dhabi Authority for Agriculture and Food Safety provides continuous support for citizens’ beekeepers, by continuing to provide the queens of high -efficiency Emirati honey strains, with the aim of sustaining the beekeeping sector and raising local production of high -quality loads such as honey, Sidr, Al -Qarram, and honey of wildflowers.
On the occasion of the celebration of the International Bee Day, which falls on May 20 of each year, the authority confirmed that during the months of March and April of this year, raising and producing 2100 bee queens of the tenth generation of the queens of the Emirati bee strain, as part of its ongoing efforts to develop the Emirati bee strain to ensure the sustainability of beekeeping in the country and reduce dependence on the import of bees cells from abroad.
During the period from 2016 to 2024, she raised nine generations of the queens of the Emirati bee strain and produced 18 thousand and 692 queens, where 14 thousand and 461 of them were distributed to beekeepers in the country during that period.
During this year, the commission distributed 1350 queens of the tenth generation queens to 39 beekeepers in the country, and breeding and production of bee queens continues to reach 2,300 queens during the spring season between March and May and 3000 queens during the fall season between October and November of this year, bringing the total planned production to 5300 queens of the tenth generation of the queens of the Emirati bees.
The commission intensifies its efforts to support the beekeepers in the country to reach the local sales to the global marketing stage; During the period from January 31 to February 9, 2025, the Al Wathba Honey Festival, which is one of the festivals accompanying the Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Agricultural Excellence Award at the Sheikh Zayed Festival in Al -Tiqba in Abu Dhabi, in which 50 beekeepers and a company in the field of beekeeping and honey production participated.
Various competitions were also organized at the honey festival with valuable prizes to the participants, in which 272 contestants participated, with 40 contestants won prizes of 439 thousand dirhams.
As part of its continuous efforts to enhance awareness of the value of Emirati honey and its unique position, the authority prepared an awareness film that reviews the diversity of honey produced in the state environments, highlights the role of beekeepers and bee queens in the production of this precious nectar, and holds an awareness message that bee protection represents a civilized behavior that guarantees the sustainability of biological diversity and food security in the country.
The authority implemented a number of workshops and scientific seminars in the field of beekeeping and honey production, including preparing honey samples to participate in local and international competitions, the evaluation mechanism in honey competitions, and a number of dialogue sessions with beekeepers to display challenges in the beekeeping sector and ways to overcome them.
The authority also carried out two training sessions for novice beekeepers, on the basics of beekeeping, and another course on how to raise and enter honey beekeepers, while during the month of June, a training course on honey bee pests and diseases will be organized and how to combat them to preserve healthy bee sects free of pests and diseases capable of enduring state conditions and producing high -quality products.
In the field of supporting honey events, the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, in cooperation with the Beekeepers Association, participated in an active role in organizing and evaluating the activities of the thirteenth edition of the “International Meeting of Young Beekeepers” (IMYB), which was held in Dubai during the period from 18 to 22 December 2024, and this is the first time that this global event is held outside Europe, which reflects the commitment of the authority to enhance a culture of education Bees are among young people at the local and international levels.
The commission issued an integrated scientific guide entitled “Bees and Honey Becks Raising in the UAE”, which is the first scientific version of its kind locally, highlighting the biological diversity of bees types, methods of sustainable management of cells, and environmental challenges facing the beekeeping sector in the country.
In the context of monitoring and prevention efforts, the authority recently launched a national project to monitor diseases and pests that affect honey bee communities, with the aim of building a precise database on health challenges that threaten the Emirati bee strain, and prepare an integrated national plan to manage these challenges according to the best international standards. The results of the project are scheduled to be announced during the first quarter of 2026.
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