Mayor of Fergana Sh.R. Suyarkulov
Regional Association of Beekeepers, Ph.D.
Email: fspbee@gmail.com
It is never too late to learn - Fergana beekeepers have repeatedly discussed this issue in their spare time. A group of 10 beekeepers selected a professional beekeeper - each with its own beehive for 500-1000 bee families, two breeding farms, three farm managers, and a director of a diversified beekeeping firm. And the experience of working with bees is huge - from 10 to 40 years. And I had to be amazed at a lot of things. Although everything is in order.
At the invitation of the Israeli Agency for International Cooperation - MASHAV and the Center for International Cooperation in Agricultural Development - CINADCO, a group of beekeepers from the Fergana Regional Association of Beekeepers took part in a training course on "Modern methods of beekeeping." In Israel, at the MASH-CINADCO training center in Kibbutz Shfayim. The two-week course was held in December and was attended by 20 beekeepers from 6 CIS countries in addition to our beekeepers, the course was filled with trips, seminars and excursions to beekeeping, which passed very quickly.
From the first day of acquaintance with the agricultural production of Israel and its forms, the eyes began to roll in amazement. Productivity, productivity, productivity, a product per worker, water consumption - it was all a revelation. The presentation of the material by Dr. Yuri Ozeransky, Director of the Department of Russian Language Courses, was so interesting and informative that we could hardly record it. Imagine that the country produces an average of more than 11,000 kilograms of milk per cow! Pepper yield in greenhouses exceeds 250 tons per hectare! Drip irrigation is adequately available everywhere and water consumption is very low.
The first bee we visited belonged to the Volcano Research Center under the Ministry of Agriculture. SIC labs are equipped with the latest technology, research can be done to the molecular level - and all for a small bee! Nowhere in the world is there such a close connection between science and industry. All new equipment, all technologies, medicines, all our own developments are first tested at NIC Vulcani beekeeping plants and then sent immediately to all beekeepers in the country through the Ministry of Agriculture in the form of recommendations. It is found not only in beekeeping, but also in all areas of agriculture. It was invented today and tomorrow it will already be used in production. This is not to say that we have not seen the success of Israeli agriculture, the success of advanced technology.
A visit to the “Flowers of Galilee” bee garden - “The structure of the micronucleus is very unique! And how does it work?
No more than 50 bee families are housed in a single beehive, the bees are located at a distance of 500-1000 m from each other, which allows to pollinate agricultural crops in the most optimal mode and use the existing poor honey collection. I. Zeldman, a beekeeper engineer at the Vulcani Research Center, shared in detail the secrets of beekeeping skills. The absence of a fruitless period in bees, even in December, significantly complicates the fight against bee diseases in families of 2–4 breeds of rum bees. The technology of incubation of queen bees, selection, feeding and care of bees, pollination, treatment - questions were constantly asked, and all were answered in detail. This surprised us a little later - all the experts, beekeepers, scientists, teachers - tried to share in detail the available developments. Subsequent research at the Volcano Research Center under the Ministry of Agriculture has significantly enriched the knowledge base of beekeepers.
In the high mountains of northern Israel, we visited the Galilean Flower Beehive, led by a beekeeper, with several assistants. The main direction of his activity is pollination of gardens, collection of honey in the mountains, extraction of breeding material. But most of all, he was amazed by his passion for his work, his love for bees, and his attitude and organization of work on the farm. Everything was done carefully, on time and in a businesslike manner. There are almost no difficulties in trading, an image developed over the years helps. Beautiful honey packs from 20-30 grams and a few kilograms, original branded labels, flexible discount system. Everything is customer customized.
"Mixmanim" is a family beekeeping enterprise nasi. Beekeepers are an elderly couple. There is a small beekeeping museum and even beehives where bees were raised thousands of years ago. To the diversity of packaged honey is added honey wine - mead. There is also a demand for it, say the owners.
In a network of smart and military, simple and rigorous beekeeping, we saw former military pilot Mr. Hagai Shitzer. A small workshop with many machines and equipment for repairing and manufacturing frames and new nests, a special workshop for pouring honey with huge tanks for the product, a filling workshop, a small park of machines and equipment to facilitate transportation, loading and work. bees. All beehives hibernate in the mountains, and the farm has only a backup queen and a micro-nucleus park with dozens of families to oversee the wintering process. The Gamla beekeeping plant is located in the Golan Heights, where H. Schitzer, with his son and several assistants, serves up to 1,000 bee families. For them, working with bees is not only a business, but it feels, above all, a kind attitude, love for bees, understanding them and a unique sexual state.
Honey extractor at the Gamla Beehive in the Golan Heights by former military pilot Mr. Hagai Shitzer.
Has more than 40 years of experience with beekeepers, more than 20 years as a leader of a public organization, ie. working closely with beekeepers, I came to the conclusion that the relationship between beekeepers and beekeepers is a special state of mind, a separate philosophy. 2-3, there are beekeepers with no more than a dozen bee families - for them bees rest, it’s a flight, it’s a fantasy, they’re not for profit and money; they can huddle at the front door for hours and watch the bees work - they never know how to carry water, pollen, nectar, how to protect their homes from unwanted visitors, check on incoming bees, how they clean, clean, ventilate, but you never know. bee family should do. It’s a special love for bees, the ability to understand them, to understand their needs and requirements, a spiritual conversation with these bees, it’s an incredibly unique mental state!
There is a beekeeping business based on the laws of economics, knowledge and professional skills. Everything here has been calculated and done correctly. But if a beekeeper participates in the business with a special attitude to bees, love and understanding, then this business will usually be better and more profitable than others. So, in Israel, I had to observe many such beekeepers who love their job and understand beekeeping and beekeeping.
Kibbuts beekeeping plant "Ein Harod". Founded in 1933 as a church, it belongs to the whole kibbutz (it is the same as our kolkhozes in the USSR, but on a different conscious level). Nearly 3,000 bee families operating in the district, dozens of beekeeping enterprises, as well as partner beekeepers are equipped with all modern technologies, from storage and transportation of bees to honey collection, storage and packaging. A few lines to prepare the honey, filter it and fill it into various containers of tens of grams and up to 200 liters. There is a separate specialist in each direction, one is responsible for the bees following the pollination process, the other is pumping the honey, and the fourth is engaged in marketing. Commodity turnover - hundreds of tons of high quality honey. Here beekeeping is a high-tech, full-cycle industry where everything is calculated to the smallest detail and accordingly brings significant benefits to the kibbutz.
At the Boaz Kanot family farm in southern Israel, things are a little different. More than 5,000 bee families are raised, beehives, fertile queens are sold, agricultural plantations and greenhouses are contracted, and honey is sold to wholesalers at twice the retail price. The head of the farm, B. Kanot, is raising bees with his son and several assistants. The hardworking hands of the beekeeper, who was born in beekeeping, who loves bees, gathers like-minded people around him, and raises his son in this spirit, leave a mark on all the work in the field. Take the key and get into the hood of the car, take the beekeeper, the current inspection of the bees, the migration of the larvae and the hatching of the queens - all come out of Boaz, and he demands the same of his comrades. - weapon. There is order and cleanliness all over the house, everything is on the counters – beekeeping zi is different. Bees can feel the kind and sincere attitude of the owner. They respond in the same way. Where economic efficiency is higher - one can argue on the Boaz Kanot family farm or the Ein Harod kibbutz.
No matter which beehive we are in, I have not heard any complaints from beekeepers about taxes and fees for bees. And they are big in Israel. For example, from the sale of any product, both private traders and firms, whether it be honey, packages, pollinators or uterus, pay 18% VAT or, as they say, “presidential tax”. In addition, for each bee family of the Israeli Beekeepers Association, they pay a membership fee of 1.5 kg of honey at retail prices - a lot of money. And this despite the fact that the average honey yield is 40-50 kg of honey per family, and the payment for pollination is twice less than in the United States. As we test the working conditions of beekeepers in Israel for us, I am not sure that half of our beekeepers who managed to get out of beekeeping conditions will remain.
We were amazed at a lot of things there. Thanks to this course, we have been fortunate to see with our own eyes the real reality of Israel, the lives of ordinary people, their lifestyles, their jobs, their homes, the relationships between people of different colors. A truly modern, progressive and tolerant society has been built in Israel. For two weeks we lived side by side with the Israelites and were amazed at their kind attitude towards us. We could see the life of the Israelis from the inside - it can’t be said with any news, articles, photos. We felt the aura that surrounded the people of Israel and understood why the Israelis were so proud of their country! We are happy with what Israel has been able to do in its last 60+ years!
During our stay in Israel, we met with beekeepers, scientists and experts with a family of 20-30 and 3-5 thousand bees. We saw their work, their beekeeping conditions, the tools and equipment they use. Despite this, the range of bees in our countries is practically the same, but the approach and organization of beekeeping, the working conditions and scale of Israeli beekeepers are completely different. The experience we have accumulated cannot be overestimated. We believe that the application of Israeli beekeeping methods in Uzbekistan will intensify the beekeeping industry and raise it to a higher level.
But most importantly, among the lifeless deserts and bare rocks, in conditions where there is almost no water, huge plantations of orchards and agricultural plantations have been planted, thousands, thousands of hectares of greenhouses and a small number of agricultural crops. cultivated amazed us. Part of the Israeli population not only provides their country with food, but also exports it to many countries around the world! Isn’t it a miracle comparable to the miracle that thousands of years ago Jewish prophets could feed the people with a few slices of bread and fish!
And most surprisingly, the Israelis are indifferently passing on advanced knowledge to the whole world, as evidenced by the MASHAV-CINADCO international training center in Kibbutz Shfayim, where we were educated and had more than 150 state representatives before us! Isn't this a continuation of those ancient traditions, when at the dawn of humanity, Jewish preachers taught people all over the world the right way of life, gave them hope, gave them warmth and light! And today, thousands of years later !!! !
We are convinced that as many people as possible should travel to Israel for these and similar educational programs and see the real life of Israelis, a country that has survived the most difficult international conditions and yet economic success and prosperity. is an example. ; Israel's main asset is its people, its advanced ideas and technology, and the close connection between science and industry. We have not only learned on a professional level, but also learned how to live properly, to change the world for the better. Just as the waves of a rock throw the waves, so the waves of friendship, goodness, peace, and the proper structure of human society radiate from us who visit Israel. We are confident that it will bring peace and prosperity to our countries and peoples.
