Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Bees of Oman and their keepers

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He is professionally a graduate in translation specializing in Arabic and English, but five years ago he could not resist his curiosity about honey bees and started bee keeping.


“I am intrigued by the bees. They are mentioned in the Holy Quran and culturally it is important for us and a great symbol. There are thousands of beekeepers in Oman but none in my family. On the contrary at first they ridiculed me when I expressed the idea, as there were not any bee keepers around us in our place, which is about five km from Oman Sea in the Batinah Coast. But they are now happy with my passion. The business has been profitable too,” said Mohammed Rashid al Badi.


Beekeeping is one of the traditional occupations of Oman. Mohammed takes pride in the Omani bees and their honey.


“In Oman we can spot Omani bees as well as Egyptian and European bees. The Egyptian bees are aggressive and are known to attack the Omani bees which are smaller in size. In the Sultanate we only breed Omani bees. The wild Omani bees are smaller in size and their hives are usually found on mountains and trees,” explained Mohammed.


The honey of the wild bees can fetch about RO 400 for one kilogram where as the other species of Omani bees, which are slightly larger in size can cost around RO 25 to RO 35 for the same amount, according to this bee keeper from Saham who works in Muscat.


“There is one significant factor about the wild bees of Oman they cannot remain in the same place for too long. At the most they might stick to one place for two seasons and then move on as they like to roam and explore. So they are not that feasible for business. I specialize on the other Omani bee, Nahal Omani,” pointed out Mohammed.


Mohammed started with one bee hive in 2017 and grew the number of hives to 40, but have now come down to 10. It is because of the current challenge the beekeepers are facing – pesticide.


“The bees travel even up to seven to eight km to collect their food. One of the challenges is the shrinking of the natural areas for the bees. People are expanding to the wadis and mountains and so the natural settings are shrinking. Urbanisation means cutting down trees that the bees depend on and this means they travel further often reaching farms where pesticides are used. This kills the bees,” noted Mohammed.


What Mohammed decided to do was to travel with his bees even crossing 300 km.


“We have just completed Simer season and after the season we bring our bees under the shade in the farm as the summer is too hot for them on the mountains and the heat could kill them but here they face the challenge of pesticides used in some farms,” he added.


He specializes in Sidr and Simer. The Sidr season will begin in the end of September and last until the beginning of December. The current collection of honey that is available is Simer.


“The Sidr trees in Saham are few in numbers so I go to areas that have abundant number of Sidr trees but if there are too many bee keepers in one place then we cannot all put our beehives together as there would be too many bees and the production will be less,” he noted.


Mohammed is also closely following the weather forecast because rains bring out some rare flowers and bees love them. “We need more rains,” reflected Mohammed.


He appreciates these tiny creatures that support the ecosystem from pollination to providing honey, but hopes the communities are able to protect their natural habitats and keep them safe from pesticides.


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