Yemeni Honeybee: what makes it unique?

According to a studyconducted at the University of Hadhramout,beekeeping and honey production is one of the ancient professions known inYemen since olden times, for apiculture profession in Yemen goes back to the10th century BC.

Historically,Yemeni apiculture was associated with the Economic prosperity of HadhramoutState at that time. Sources andstatistical data indicate that the honey trade used to rank fourth in Yemen’seconomies in the modern age.

Throughout the past centuries untiltoday, Yemenis showed interest in beekeeping. As Yemeni honey is prominentlyknown for its eminent competitive advantage and great commercial reputation,mainly the Sidr honey, produced in Wadi Do’an in Hadramout and Jardan area inShabwa, where Do’ani and Jardani honey is considered one of the finest and mostexpensive types of honey in the world.

Qualities of Yemeni Honeybee Breed

Yemeni honeybee breed is one of theAfrican honeybee subspecies, and it is one of the most small-sized breeds thatlive pure in mountains and valleys. It is the only subspecies that follows theglobal honeybee.

Colonies of Yemeni honeybees are strongand highly resistant to diseases and pests, such as Varroa jacobsoni and Wax moths, besides their quick adaptability tovarious circumstances when moved from one geographical area to another.

Among the qualities of the Yemenihoneybee colonies are the healthy behavior and the speed of the bees in gettingrid of their dead workers’ broods. Also, Yemeni honeybees build honey hives ontheir own without the intervention of beekeepers, as the case is in some othercountries.

The studyof (Khanbash, 2019),indicates that Yemeni honeybees have a number of unique morphological qualities,which are listed below:

• Yemeni honeybees have a high adaptability to the prevailing living and nonliving environmental conditions.
• Yemeni honeybees are small in size.
• They have short tongues compared to other breeds.
• The wings and legs are relatively short, with fusiform abdomens.
• Yemeni queen bees lay eggs throughout the year, in proportion to the area of ​​pollen grains stored in the colonies.
• Yemeni worker bees are characterized by being quiet at producing honey and active when gathering food.
• Yemeni honeybees have relative stability at spawning, colonization and pollen grains storage.
• They are characterized by the production of bright and white waxy honeycombs.
• Yemeni honeybee colonies are known for their recurrent swarming and migration.
• Yemeni honeybee build honeycombs with hexagonal eyes that are less deep and smaller in diameter than the global ones.

Yemeni honeybees’ average production ofeggs ranges between 537 – 1200 eggs per day, with the brood quantity reachesits maximum rate during the months of October and November and goes down to theminimum in January.

Although, drone bees continue breedingall around the year, the presence of drone bees is noticed at the highest ratein October and November and at a lower level in the other months.

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Qualities of the Yemeni Honey

Yemeni honey is uniquely privileged forit has been categorized as a honey of medicine that has a high therapeutic andnutritional value. It is characterized by its delicious taste, good flavor anddark colors. Besides, it has many other important qualities as it maintains itsnatural properties of pollen grains and the food of the queen bees and otherbees.

Basically, beekeeping profession inYemen, according to some reports, differs from what it is around the world, asit relies on recurrent movement about 7-8 times all over the year, and zerochemicals are used to combat pests and diseases that afflict bees, which  ensures that the honey produced is fullynatural.

The Yemeni honeybee breed has beenendemic in Yemen for thousands of years, and it is not found anywhere else,however, during recent decades, it has been transferred and bred in severalcountries, including the Sultanate of Oman and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In August 2015,the SaudiMinistry of Environment Water and Agriculture tweeted that the Yemeni honeybee breed along with the Carniolan andItalian breeds are of the most famous honeybees that have been bred in theKingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Decline of Yemeni Honey Production

Agricultural census records indicate thatthe number of bee colonies in Yemen has nearly tripled during the last tenyears of the 20th century.

Yemeni honey is being produced in 21Yemeni governorates, yet, the largest honey producers are the governorates ofHadramout, Shabwa, Abyan and Hodaidah, respectively.

In 2004, according to data from theMinistry of Agriculture, the number of bee colonies amounted to more than onemillion, and Yemen’s total production of honey was approximately 5,000 tonsannually, meanwhile, the total honey exported in 2004 reached 350 tons.

However, the ongoing war and conflictsover the past six years along with floods and torrents have destroyed andwashed away thousands of Yemeni beehives, and Yemeni beekeepers incurred heavylosses. The battles hindered their ability to move at night, especially thebattles that took place near the bee pastures in Hodaidah, Taiz, Shabwah, andother governorates.

Furthermore, the restrictions imposed bythe Saudi-led coalition on the movement of foreign trade and the closure ofYemen’s border crossings impeded the possibility of exporting products outsidethe country and took part in the decline of the Yemeni honey trade.

As a result, Yemeni honey production has halved,and according to recent data from the Animal Production Department (Holm Akhdarobtained a copy of it), the Yemeni honey production amounted to about 2,381tons in 2018, which equals half of the honey quantity produced 17 years ago.

In addition, more than 90,000 beekeeperswork in Yemen and as shown in the animal production data of the Ministry ofAgriculture for the year 2018, the total number of Yemeni beehives stood at1,246,562 million beehives. Meanwhile, honey production reached 2,427,750 millionkilograms, and the productivity rate is approximately 1.948 kg / cell.

A study, conducted by Dr. Muhammad SaeedKhanbash from the University of Hadramout, emphasized the necessity ofmaintaining the Yemeni honeybee breed pure and in isolated areas. The studyalso asserted the need for preparing bee development programs and buildingqueen-bee-breeding stations to provide beekeepers with queen bees and improvetheir production.

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Types of the Yemeni Honey

Sidr Honey:

It is bee-extracted from Sidr trees (Ziziphus spina- christi) and characterized as the finest type of honey,not only in Yemen, but also around the world. It is the most expensive honey asit is priced at about $ 150 per kilogram on the global market. Locally, its price ranges between 50-60 thousand Yemeni Riyal (equivalent to about $ 100).

Sumor Honey:

This type of honey is bee-made from the Acacia tortilis trees, which are thorny trees and densely spread all over theYemeni governorates, namely in Hadramout and some mountainous areas in Ibb,Dhamar, Sana’a, Taiz, and others.

Salm Honey:‍

Itis bee-made from the Athl trees (Tamarisk), and it is known for its sharp tastethat causes a burning sensation in the throat and lasts for many hours, ashoney sellers said.

Salam Honey:‍

Yemenihoneybees extract this type of honey from the flowers of Salam tree (acaciaehrenbergiana), a semi-desert tree that bloom in March of every year, which isoften found in Tehama, on the Red Sea coasts in western Yemen. It is alsoavailable in the mountains of Al-Mahweet governorate, which is famous for its diversity of vegetation.

White Mountain Honey:

Thistype of honey is bee-extracted from multiple mountainous bushes and weeds thatbloom in September of every year. White Mountain honey is known for its rapidfreezing until it becomes like sugar.

Almarai Honey:

Almarai honey is produced almost all around the year, as honeybeesforage for nectar from multiple trees and flowers. This type of honey ischaracterized by its good quality and reasonable price.

List of Resources and References:

• Mohammad Saeed Khanbash, a study entitled: “The Dream of Varroa and the Yemeni Bees”, Honeybee Center, Hadramout University of Science and     Technology. Yemen, June 2004.
• Mohammad Saeed Khanbash, abstract of an article “Studies on Yemeni Bees”, Arab Scientific Community Organization, May 20, 2019.
• Statistics Yearbook, Information and Statistics Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Yemen, 2018.
• The Blog of Yemeni Honey Store.