Omani Honey Market opens

MUSCAT: The 11th Omani Honey Market was opened at Muscat Grand Mall (MGM) on Wednesday under the patronage of Dr Khalid bin Salim al Saeedi, Secretary-General of the State Council. In all, 32 bee farmers from the different parts of the Sultanate showcase Omani honey products at the market. The four-day market is being organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MoAF), in cooperation with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) as part of their interest in promoting beekeeping, enhancing food security and encouraging bee farmers to maximise their economic returns. The market also aims at enhancing bee keepers’ skills, raising public awareness of the Omani high quality honey products and encouraging youths to venture in this fields.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has earlier announced a project for the production of highly productive bee queens and honey at a cost of RO 150,000. The project is subsidised by the Agricultural and Fisheries Development Fund. The project aims at creating six beneficiaries of the jobseekers, limited income and retirees category. The project will also create six bee queens incubators at the Governorates of South Al Sharqiyah, North Al Batinah, South Al Batinah, Al Dhahirah and Al Dakhiliyah. The incubators will meet the growing needs for Omani bee queens by the Omani bee keepers.

During the past period, the ministry also imported certain grazing Australian trees and planted them at the grazing areas. The trees contributed to increasing honey production after the deterioration of production due to lack of rains, overgrazing, desertification and construction growth.

The previous 10 honey markets versions, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (two each year), contributed to increasing honey products’ production. The statistics of agriculture sector for 2017 point out that the number of honey cells in the Sultanate stands at 100,000 that produce about 485,000 kg of honey. — ONA