An industrial apiary and a breeding bee farm will be established in the Vitebsk region

May 12, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. An industrial apiary and a breeding apiary for bees will be established in the Vitebsk region within the next two years. The program for the development of beekeeping in agricultural organizations of the Vitebsk region for the period 2010-2011 has begun to be implemented in the region, the Agriculture and Food Committee of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee informed a BELTA correspondent. An industrial apiary for 300 colonies will be established at the "Polota" agricultural enterprise in the Polotsk district. Its main activity will be the commercial production of honey, pollen, and other beekeeping products. A breeding apiary for improving the productive and breeding qualities of bee colonies is planned to be established on the basis of the "Belagroprom-Nectar" farm in the Dubrovno district. As noted by the committee specialists, the goal of the program is to increase the production of beekeeping products, saturate the regional market with honey, and increase the yield of agricultural crops. The main production direction for the development of beekeeping is pollination and honey production. Bees are used for pollinating greenhouse crops, orchards, berry patches, and perennial grasses. However, the role of bees in increasing the yield of perennial grass seeds and other entomophilous crops through their pollination is underestimated. Therefore, agricultural organizations face the task of increasing the number of bee colonies by 1,888 colonies within two years by expanding existing apiaries and creating new ones, and by the end of 2011, having 5.2 thousand bee colonies. The program also provides for strengthening the material and technical base of apiaries, ensuring conditions for compliance with technological requirements for obtaining beekeeping products, and selecting and training specialists. The program will be financed from the funds of agricultural organizations and the regional budget. The total amount of expenses for 2010-2011 is Br2.3 billion. Br680 million is planned to be allocated from the regional budget. Of this, Br230 million will be directed from the regional budget to create an industrial commercial apiary in the Polotsk district over two years, and Br120 million for the regional bee nursery. According to statistics, at the beginning of the year, there were over 37.5 thousand bee colonies in the region across all categories of farms, of which 12.6% belonged to institutions of the Vitebsk Production Forestry Association, farmers kept 1.8% of bee colonies, and private subsidiary farms had 85.6%. -0-