Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The tradition of celebrating the harvest festival in Uzbekistan originated many centuries ago. One of such holidays is Asal Bayrami, / "The Festival of Honey" /, which takes place these days in Tashkent, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

The creative team of Xinhua attended the honey festival, which is full of an abundance of different types of honey not only from all regions of Uzbekistan, but also from all over Central Asia, in particular, from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and also from Russia. The exhibition presents all the samples of advanced technologies used in beekeeping, a wide selection of equipment, tools, bee hives, various devices that facilitate the work of the beekeeper.

Uzbekistan has a hot climate and special vegetation. The honey obtained here is unique. In the honey balance of the country, steppe honey accounts for about 20-25 percent, cotton honey - 50 percent, the rest are varieties of mountain honey, they are very high quality and expensive.

According to the advisor to the chairman of the Association of Beekeepers of Uzbekistan, hereditary beekeeper Sherali Suyarkulov, this event is a great festive event in the context of a pandemic. “The main significance of the holiday of honey is to show the beekeeping industry to the people of the country and to present the residents of the capital and guests with the best products of Uzbek beekeepers and their colleagues from neighboring countries. More than 400 beekeepers have gathered here, more than 200 varieties of this unique gift of nature are presented. They not only sell their products, but exchange experience, establish contacts, take the first steps towards mutually beneficial cooperation,” he said.

Within the framework of the honey festival, with the support of the FAO project "Support for the sustainable development of beekeeping", a training seminar for beekeepers was organized with the participation of scientists and specialists from the countries of Central Asia, Russia, Ukraine, Slovenia. The seminar addressed such issues as intensive technologies in the use of bee pavilions, the effectiveness of beekeeping, technologies for the industrial cultivation of queen bees and royal milk, the medicinal properties of honey and the use of medicines in the treatment of bees, new technologies in world beekeeping, as well as the procedure for exporting honey and the requirements of foreign countries to the quality of honey.

Suyarkulov believes that the Great Silk Road, running through the territory of present-day Uzbekistan, has served as a basis for development and cooperation since ancient times. “Today, the Chinese market is the largest in the world. Entering the Chinese market gives Uzbek beekeepers great opportunities. First, it will serve as a significant impetus for the accelerated development of beekeeping in Uzbekistan. This will be one step higher than the current level due to the export of our products. Secondly, due to the introduction of advanced Chinese technologies, new opportunities are opening up for training and increasing the potential of Uzbek beekeepers,” he said.

Suryakulov said that since 2019, the Chinese government has allowed the supply of honey to the Chinese market. Now contacts have been established with Chinese scientists and specialists in the field of beekeeping. The Uzbek delegations visited China several times and got acquainted with the advanced technologies for obtaining honey and other products from honey, but now, due to the pandemic, all communications are carried out online. “Now we are studying modern advanced technologies in the world in the field of beekeeping, including from Chinese specialists. We are learning from China to provide Chinese consumers with honey of decent quality, so that our honey becomes competitive in the world market,” Suryakulov said.

In his opinion, there are three main problems in this issue. First, the phyto-sanitary requirements in China are very strict. There are very few specialized laboratories to obtain analyzes in accordance with the requirements of the Chinese market, and this takes a long time. Secondly, the ratio of world and domestic prices for honey. For example, today in the domestic market of Uzbekistan the price of 1 kg of honey ranges from 6 to 10 dollars. So far, this suits the Uzbek honey producers. Thirdly, it is logistics and transport. So far, there are not enough modern logistics and transport centers in Uzbekistan for storing and delivering honey to China. “Now we are working in this direction to address these issues together with our Chinese colleagues,” said the advisor to the chairman of the Association of Beekeepers of Uzbekistan.

The youngest beekeeper the Andijan region, 21-year-old Abdulaziz Alimjanov said that beekeeping is a family profession for them. His ancestors started beekeeping almost a hundred years ago. This tradition is now continued by the Alimjanov family. From a young age Abdulaziz helped his grandfather and father and learned the secrets of beekeeping and hard work.

In his opinion, the main lesson that he learned over the past period is that this profession requires patience, honest work and high responsibility. Today, the need for environmentally friendly honey products is growing every year, and as a result, beekeeping has become an important branch of agriculture. For three years now he has been working independently, he founded the family company "Asal dengizi" / "Sea of honey" / and registered it. “We mainly get our honey from flowers in the foothill, plain, cotton and garden regions of Uzbekistan. In addition to honey, we also receive such unique honey products as propolis, pollen, wax, bee venom, royal jelly. Our beekeeping farm is located on the border with Kyrgyzstan, and we have the opportunity to take our bee colonies to the mountainous regions of the neighboring country in the spring and summer. Therefore, our assortment includes different varieties of ecologically pure Kyrgyz honey,” he said.

While they are selling their products in the domestic market of Uzbekistan. For the last three years, honey has been supplied to Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. “As a child, my grandfather told me that honey was sent to China along the Silk Road. I want to continue this tradition. My dream is to enter the Chinese market,” concluded the young Uzbek beekeeper.

In recent years, much attention has been paid to the development of beekeeping in Uzbekistan. In particular, in order to stimulate the industry, the President of Uzbekistan in October 2017 adopted a resolution "On measures for the further development of the beekeeping industry in the republic." The document established the Association of Beekeepers of Uzbekistan in order to unite the beekeepers of the country, to facilitate the exchange of experience.

Farms that are members of the association are exempt from customs payments for equipment used, special vehicles for transporting bee hives, veterinary medicines and pest control products, wax and wax products until 2023.