TURKEY, SECOND LARGEST BEEKEEPING COUNTRY IN THE WORLD...

Turkey, the world's second largest beekeeping country after China...

Selçuk Solmaz, head of Ankara Beekeepers Association (AAYB), said, "Turkey is one of few self-sufficient countries in beekeeping,"

Founded in 2003, AAYB aims to train beekeepers, discuss difficulties of the profession and find solutions to produce various bee products with more fertile and high-quality methods, Solmaz explained.

Solmaz emphasized Turkey is also one of few countries with varied honey plants and premium quality honey production.

"Turkish honey is becoming sought after in the world cuisine. The variation also covers the chestnut, thyme, citrus, pine, lavender, acacia, highland plant and wildflower honey. Moreover recently, beekeepers in Turkey started producing royal jelly, pollen, propolis and bee venom" he added.

Solmaz told there are about 118,000 beehives in Turkey's capital Ankara, compared to around 50,000 in 2003.

"This shows that the beekeeping sector is developing day by day" he noted.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), Turkey produced 107,920 tons of honey in 2018 and exported 5,912 tons in the same period.

He stressed Turkey is not a fully industrialized country, saying: "It's also beneficial for organic and clean agriculture."

Solmaz reminded of bees that are directly related to food safety, sustainable agriculture and biodiversity.

"According to a research carried out by Science And Policy For People And Nature (IPBES) in 2016, food production by means of pollination and insemination costs around 235-577 billion dollars annually" he noted.

"If the bees vanish, many living creatures will also vanish," he said, adding: "If we want to live, if we want our children and grandchildren to live, we have to show the greatest effort to keep the bees alive."

He concluded that beekeeping should be done not only to preserve the ecosystem, but also for better use of plants with a short lifespan.