Serbian Union of Agricultural Engineers and Technicians

Analysis of the potential of development of organic beekeeping in the Niš and Pirot district

The Beekeeping as an Alternative to the Unemployment And a Steady Base for a Sustainable Development in the Bulgarian-Serbian Cross-Border

Region

Bulgaria – Serbia IPA Cross-border Programme,CCI Number 2007CB16IPO006

Project № 2007CB16IPO006-2011-2-96

The project is co-funded by EU trough the Bulgaria–Serbia IPA Cross-border Programme

• As in the majority of other countries, the border districts in Bulgaria and Serbia are less developed. One of the directions of enhancing economic state of these districts is base on the promotion and the development of rural enterprising. The convenient natural conditions, relative environment preservation and biodeversity presents good preconditions of the development of organic agriculture, for which the high degree of local inhabitants interest exist.

INTRODUCTION

• The total turnover of organic food at the world marke generated in 2011 amounted to 63.8 billions US$, which is an increase for 48.6 billion US$ or 4.2 times greater than 1999 when 15.2 billion US$. Europe took share in the world market of organic food in 2011 by 21,5 billion US$. The market of organic food is increasing in Europe, where Germany is the top leader with 6,59 billion € (30%), and France follows with 3,76 billion €(17%).

• The estimated value of organic production market of the Former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro) in 2010 amounted to 120 million €, out of which Serbia achieved 40 billion € turnover (Jansen and Schaer, 2012).

The data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Serbia in 2014 години shows:

• 1337 bee colonies in the status of conversion for the organic beekeeping production, • 603 bee colonies are certified for the organic beekeeping.

The District of Southern and Eastern Serbia includes:

• 717 bee colonies in the period of conversion• 450 bee colonies certified for the organic beekeeping.

Current situation in organic beekeeping in Serbia

• European Union adopted the following legal regulations (bylaws) in the area of organic agriculture :

• Legal acts of the Council (EC) no. 834/2007 оn organic production and labeling of organic products when came into effect replaced the legal acts (EC) no. 2092/91 and

• Legal acts (EC) no. 889/2008 which prescribes the detailed rules for enforcing legal acts (EC) no. 834/2007.

Law Regulations of the Organic Beekeeping in Serbia

• In Serbia due to the resulting legislative changes in the area of organic agricultural production in European Union and the requirement for national legislation in the sphere of organic agricultural production in European Union and the requirement for national legislation to meet the demands of European Union the following is adopted : - The Law on organic production (Official Gazette of Republic of Serbia 30/10) dated 07/05/2010 and based on this Law , The Rulebook was published next year and started to be applied - The Rulebook on control and certification in organic production and methods of organic production (Official Gazette of Republic of Serbia no. 48/11).

Figure1. Design of the logo and national logo for the organic product

Figure 2. Design of the logo from the conversion period

Country Protected Territory (%) Number of national parks

Serbia 6,5 5

FRY Macedonia 7,13 3

Croatia 6,49 8

Bulgaria 9,53 3

Bosnia and Herzegovina

0,53 2

Albany 2,4 6

Table1. Protected areas and the numbers of national parks in Serbia and surrounding countries Source: http://www.ceecec.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/SEE-Report_Serbian.pdf

• Republic of Serbia is characterized by rich, heterogeneous and natural heritage and high mountain and mountain region presents one of six centers of the European biodiversity.

• Biodiversity of various groups of living organisms in Serbia is high, which can be vividly presented by the fact that the territory of Serbia has : 39% of European vascular flora; 51% of European fish fauna; 49% of European reptilian and amphibian fauna; 74% European bird fauna and 67% European mammals fauna.

Identification of the contamination sources in the Niš and Pirot District

• It is stated that in the territory of Nis and Pirot District the strategic documents from the municipalities in this territory show the preservation of biodiversity of flora and fauna.

• The Nis and Pirot District has a good quality land. The potential sources of contamination appear in the agriculture due to the irregular application of the pesticides and mineral fertilizers, as well as their irregular disposal.• The potential risk comes from watercourses, which can be noticed from the example of the river Nisava, since the unfiltered waste waters from Pirot and Nis.

• In the majority of southeast Serbian towns the great problem arises in the villages, since there is no organized transportation of garbage, and therefore the illegal dumps.• The problem arises also with the rural settlements without sewage system, and therefore contamination of the ground waters, water sources and wells appears.

Agriculture as a contamination source Total

yes no

Orchard close to bee garden

yes 40,9 44,6 85,5

no 2,7 11,8 14,5

total 43,6 56,4 100,0

Table 2. The areas with orchards as the source of bee garden contamination (%)Source: data processing of the author based on poll research

Agriculture as a contamination source Totalyes no

Crop cultures close to bee garden

yes 30,6 29,6 60,2

no 12,9 26,9 39,8

total 43,5 56,5 100,0

Table 3. The areas of crop farming as a source of bee garden contamination

Source: data processing of the author based on poll research

Graph 3. The opinions of beekeepers on the most significant problems in honey production

Insufficient subventions for beekeeping

bad purchasing power of the inhabitantsLack of financial fundsLack of honey grazing

Using chemical substances in agricultureLack of consciousness of the product consumerscosts of equipment, tools and accessoriesSmall market for placing honey and honey productsHigh costs of packingImpossibility of exporting honey and honey productsLack of certificates for the organic productionDifficulties in procurement of equipment, tools and accessories

0 50 150

Source: data processing of the author based on poll research

• Organic beekeeping presents the development chance of the beekeeping in Serbia, especially in the border region which is being analyzed. The placing of products of the higher processing degree, especially organic honey per higher prices in relation to the products from the conventional beekeeping enables to the agricultural manufacturers – beekeepers to achieve higher income and enhance life standard.

Convenient regions and honey graying for organic beekeeping in Nis and Pirot District

Map 1. Protected natural resources and ecological network in the Nis and Pirot District

• The potential localities which can be highlighted for the organic beekeeping are conditioned not only by the ecologically clean environment, but also by the natural surrounding which provides to the honey bee enough quantity of nectar, pollen powder and clean water.

• The spring grazing in Nis and Pirot District is good for the development of bee colony. The beekeepers located their bee gardens mainly in the rural settlements near to the smaller or bigger local watercourses, where there are conditions for the early grazing, when the bees first collect pollen, and then nectar.

Figure 1. The bees in the spring grazing of European Cornel (Cornus mas), cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera), white clover (Trifolium repens).

Based on the empirical research the production of acacia and meadow honey in the Nis and Pirot District is the most dominant. The first acacia grazing starts from the municipality Razanj around 6th May and going towards Svljig and Babusnica the period of acacia Inflorescence moves. From Nis and Svrljig towards Dimitrovgrad there are a number of localities convenient for meadow grazing which flourishes even till August.

• Out of the total number of interviewed beekeepers included in the empirical research carried out for the requirements of the Project, 81,3% produce acacia honey and 65,2% produces meadow honey.

• A beekeeper produces averagely 546 kg of acacia honey, i.e. 292 kg of meadow honey.

• Therefore organic beekeeping in Nis and Pirot District should be based on utilization of these two greatest honey grazing.

Figure 2. Bee gardens based on acacia and meadow grazing

Source: Drafting of the author of the Study

Map 3. The regions convenient for the organic beekeeping in Nis and Pirot District

Broadly speaking, the regions convenient for the organic beekeeping include the total territory of the municipalities Babusnica and Dimitrovgrad, as well as the micro localities from the other municipalities of Nis and Pirot District.Strictly speaking, the regions convenient for the organic beekeeping include exclusively micro regions in which the environment is completely preserved.

Territory Number of

Family agricultural

farms (FAF*)

Number of FAF with bee hivesNumber of bee hives

Number Share in number of FAF

TotalPer FAF with bee

hives

Total territory

The Republic of Serbia631.552 31.287 5,0 668.120 21

Nis +Pirot District

43.156 2.621 6,1 47.505 18

Nis District 31.283 1.675 5,4 31.572 19

Pirot District 11.873 946 8,0 15.933 17

The territory convenient for the organic beekeeping in general sense

Nis +Pirot District

11.772 1033 8,8 17.645 17

Nis District 6.592 504 7,6 9.371 19

Pirot District 5.180 529 10,2 8.274 16

Share of the territories for organic beekeeping in general sense in the total territory (%)

Nis +Pirot District

27,3 39,4 - 37,1 -

Nis District 21,1 30,1 - 29,7 -

Pirot District 43,6 55,9 - 51,9 -

Table 4. The regions convenient for the organic beekeeping in general sense

•Family agricultural farms (FAF*)•Source: Data processing by the author based on the result of Census of Agriculture 2012

Territory Number of

Family agricultural

farms (FAF*)

Number of FAF with bee hivesNumber of bee hives

Number Share in number of FAF

TotalPer FAF with bee

hives

Укупна територија

The Republic of Serbia 631.552 31.287 5,0 668.120 21

Nis +Pirot District

43.156 2.621 6,1 47.505 18

Nis District 31.283 1.675 5,4 31.572 19

Pirot District 11.873 946 8,0 15.933 17

The territory convenient for the organic beekeeping in narrow sense

Nis +Pirot District

8.529 644 7,6 11.468 18

Nis District 6.592 504 7,6 9.371 19

Pirot District 1.937 140 7,2 2.097 15

Share of the territories for organic beekeeping in narrow sense in the total territory (%)

Nis +Pirot District

19,8 24,6 - 24,1 -

Nis District 21,1 30,1 - 29,7 -

Pirot District 16,3 14,8 - 13,2 -

Table 5. The regions convenient for the organic beekeeping in narrow sense

•Family agricultural farms (FAF*)•Source: Data processing by the author based on the result of Census of Agriculture 2012

• Assuming that the total number of bee colonies from Nis and Pirot District (47.505) with the average yield amounting to 22 kg per bee hive serves the purpose of organic beekeeping, it might be possible to produce maximum 1.045 tones of organic honey.

• If the assumptions for including beekeeper in organic beekeeping are made on the basis of the developed European countries (which are defined at the level of 8% out of the total number of bee hives), the production of around 83,6 tones of organic honey in Nis and Pirot District might be expected.

• Preconditions for including in organic beekeeping exist since the sort of bee known as Apis mellifera carnica is raised in the bee gardens with the partial influences of Apis mellifera macedonica.

• There are good localities with acacia and meadow grazing.

• Dadan Blat bee hive type dominates in the bee gardens and it can produce the pure sort honey even in the weaker grazing such as meadow grazing.

• The greatest number of beekeepers (53,60%) changes 30% of old honey comb during the beekeeping season and insert new honey comb foundations, 22,60% of the beekeepers throws out 20% of the old honey comb.

• The analyses of honey from this are have not detected any harmful residues.

• The greatest number of beekeepers (80,3%) pack the honey in plastic package

SWOT anaylis of organic beekeeping in Nis and Pirot District

Advantages Weaknesses

Convenient natural conditions

Relatively preserved environment

Existence of large spaces for good quality grazing

Great interest of beekeepers

Lack of knowledge concerning the demands of organic production (by beekeepers)

The necessity for certification of the production

Production fragmentation – small number of bee hives per beekeeper

Lack of certified grazing for organic beekeeping (lack of land-registry of organic grazing)

Lack of processing certified facility for processing and improving quality of honey

Opportunities Threats

Increasing demand for honey from organic beekeeping

Higher price of honey from organic beekeeping The possibility of exporting organic honey

Production of other organic bee products

Utilization of national and local subventions for organic production and beekeeping

High costs of certification

Contamination from agriculture and industry

Relatively difficult access to foreign markets with smaller packages of products

• Large areas under acacia forest which dominates in the region of Nis (Public Enterpris “Srbija Sume” estimates the areas under acacia to be around 1148 ha) and rich meadow graze which dominates in Pirot District are potential which honey bee should utilize in the system of organic beekeeping.

Potential of organic beekeeping development in Nis and Pirot District

• Specific feature of beekeeping in DB bee hive enables production of good quality honey sort.

• The problem in organic beekeeping of this area might be the chemical contaminators from the agriculture and from other agricultural producers. By continual cooperation with the manufacturers in other segments of agricultural production, their education on methods of protecting their crops and plants in the manner which will not harm the bees, this problem might be successfully solved.

• The risk is the choice and application of the means against mites Varroa destructor. By entering the process of certification for organic beekeeping the medicaments which are allowed in this production system must be used.

Economic effects of organic beekeeping

• Beekeepers are divided in four categories : “amateur “ beekeeper up to 20 bee hives; „small“ from 21 to 50 bee hives, “semi-professional“ from 51 to 100 bee hives and “professional “ beekeepers with more than 100 hives.

Number of bee hives in bee

garden Revenues

Expenses –According to conventional production

Estimated certification costs

Estimated costs of replacing honey comb foundations

Total expensesDifference

(revenues –expenses)

Up to 20 97.597 50.892 60.000 21.600 132.492 -34.895

21 to 50 340.718 108.199 70.000 64.800 242.999 97.720

51 to 100 711.147 196.938 80.000 126.000 402.938 308.209

Over 100 1.483.194 472.868 90.000 275.400 838.268 644.926

Table 6. The total revenues and expenses of the beekeepers dealing with organic production, at the annual level, per interval groups (in RSD)

• For the requirement of making calculation we assume that the costs of providing certificate are around 500 euros for the category of hobby beekeeper and that they are increasing linearly by the number of bee hives.

• Although the calculation is based on the expenses calculated for the conventional production there are certain differences in the costs made in organic beekeeping.

Source: Data processed by the author of the Study based on the research

Conclusions and recommendations

• Among four statistic regions in Serbia (NUTS 2), organic agriculture is the most represented in the Region of Vojvodina (72% certified areas for plant production), The Region of South and East Serbia follows with (16%) – including Nis and Pirot which are the part of this Project.

• The results of the poll research in Nis and Pirot District indicate that : (1) 59,4% beekeepers want to engage in organic beekeeping; but (2) 46,0% beekeepers are not familiar with the requirements and standards of organic beekeeping.

• Based on the analysis of the condition and quality of air, water, land and biodiversity in certain municipalities in Nis and Pirot District, it is stated that there are no dangers of industrial contaminations.

• The application of the chemical agencies in the conventional agriculture is the potential danger – especially in the areas close to the orchards and because of the pesticides us during the inflorescence of the fruits (43% of the interviewed beekeepers), and to some extent from the watercourse contamination by utility waste water which are not filtered in the great number of municipality.

Three main goals of the enhancement of organic beekeeping in Nis and Pirot Districh have been defined :

(1) increase of the production of the food and higher market value organic honey;

(2) more complete use of the available and enhanced honey flora in the localities which meet the demands of the organic beekeeping;

(3) increase of employment and revenues of the beekeepers in more valuable market production of organic honey and other organic bee products.

• Out of the total number of interviewed beekeepers 81,3% produces acacia honey, and 65,2% meadow honey, so that the organic beekeeping in Nis and Pirot District should be based primarily on the utilization of these two greatest honey graze.

• In the territory convenient for the organic beekeeping in Nis and Pirot District broadly speaking there are 1.033 bee gardens with 17.645 bee hives or 37,1% of their total number in the territory included in this Project, in which a bee garden produces averagely 22 kg of honey, which means that we can expect the production of around 388 tones of organic honey.

• If in the territories convenient for the development of the organic beekeeping in Nis and Pirot District only micro localities are included in narrow sense, i.e. the villages in which the preserved environment without the potential contaminators is identified, the capacities of 644 bee gardens with 11.468 bee hives or 24,1% of their total number may produce around 252 tones of organic honey.

• If the potentials of the organic beekeeping in Nis and Pirot District are calculated on the basis of the average of the developed European countries (8% out of total number of bee hives), we can expect the production of 84 tones of organic honey.

• to force the activities of the beekeeper associations regarding the principles and standards of the organic beekeeping;

• the constant education for the purpose of increasing knowledge and skills of the beekeepers in the organic production;

• organizational and financial motivation of the beekeepers to convert from conventional to organic production;

• increasing the capacities for improving the quality of honey, package and placement of the organic honey and other organic bee products in the new established beekeeping union or organizational and economically even more perspective regional branch of the National beekeeping union;

• cooperation with other unions of the agricultural workers for the purpose of controlling and reducing the contamination from agriculture;

• increased control and protection of the environment; and

• making of the land registries for the honey grazing in the regions convenient for the development of the organic beekeeping.

In order to achieve the stated goals it is recommended :

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union throughthe Cross-Border Programme CCI No 2007CB16IPO006. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Beekeepers Association “Kovanluk” and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union or the Managing Authority of the Programme