Bees Earn Money

The FINANCIAL — Tamaz Ghlonti has 200 bee families and produces 2-3 tons of honey yearly. He is the only producer of honeycombed honey in Georgia.

“Starting an apiarist business is quite tricky. A beginner needs some experience so as not to lose money,” Ghlonti said.

The price of bees depends on the season of the year. In early spring one family of bee costs about 300 GEL (180 USD), after May it costs 150-200 GEL (90-120 USD).

Breeding bees is a simple process. An experienced producer can breed 5 families from one. A beginner can produce 2 families from one.

Giorgi Iashvili, Director of Geonatural, started business in 2009 with 50 families of bee. Now they have 500 families.

“We produce 8-10 tons of honey. The wholesale price is 9 GEL (5.5 USD), for retail – 12 GEL (7 USD),” Iashvili said. “We sell the whole of our harvest in Georgia. We want to export it but there isn’t enough of our product. There is no a honey gathering company to export it. If Georgian producers managed it, I would want to export my honey.”

Honey needs certification to be exported. Most countries in Europe and America ask for an ISO 22 000 certificate. This means that honey has to be pasteurized.

“In Georgia honey isn’t pasteurized at all,” said Ghoghoberidze. “I’m against pasteurization. Pasteurization is a guarantee of safety. But after this process honey loses all useful character.”

In Georgia control of the quality of honey and having a certificate isn’t mandatory. Consumers trust the honesty of producers.

“Here lies another problem. Lots of producers don’t have adequate knowledge of how to take care of bees and how to treat them,” said Ghoghoberidze.

“According to international standards, honey has to contain zero antibiotics. This means that a producer has to treat his bees with antibiotics after getting the harvest. Treatment is necessary. All bees in the world have a special disease. They have mites and if a producer doesn’t treat them, the bee family will die in a year,” Ghoghoberidze added.

There are several laboratories in Georgia which can check the quality of honey and give certificates. Few buyers ask for such certificates in Georgia and as there is no export of honey, most apiarists don’t have them.

“Certification of quality isn’t mandatory in Georgia, but it’s really necessary,” said Irakli Javakhishvili, marketing specialist of Elkana. “The price of a certificate ranges from 150 GEL (90 USD) to 600 GEL (360 GEL). It depends on what a producer wants to check.”

At the beginning of his business, Roland Zirakishvili asked companies for certification every year; to check his honey and award him a certificate. But he doesn’t do that anymore.

“I have my clients and they already know that my honey is of high quality. They don’t ask for any certificate,” Zirakishvili claims.

“One main condition for producing healthy honey is that an apiarist has to keep bees at least 3 km from the street or any type of contaminant. Honey produced in a city, for example in Tbilisi, can’t be healthy no matter the standards or efforts of the producer,” Ghoghoberidze said.

Honey production needs special equipment which isn’t produced in Georgia. Most of it is exported from Turkey. American ones are better quality but they cost more.

Zura Sadatierashvili imports equipment from Turkey and Poland mostly. He sells a honeycomb kit for 60-120 GEL (36-72 USD), an extractor for a 4 wedge piece – 450 GEL (270 USD), 40 litre aluminium can – 40 GEL (24 USD), rustless one – 150 GEL (90 USD), wedge piece – 2 GEL, and insert foundation for wedge – 2 GEL.