Georgian beekeepers strive to promote Georgian Honey by increasing its popular through the holding of events annually, raising awareness for honey sector in Georgia and showcasing diversity and resilience of the bees within Georgia.
The Georgian Beekeepers Union was created in 2018. It is a ‘umbrella association’ that brings together over 4,000 beekeepers from across the country. The union is made up of 10 beekeeping organizations and three commercial companies. Each has its own goals and areas of focus within the industry.
The Tbilisi Honey Festival spotlights bees
The Tbilisi Honey Festival took place in Mtatsminda Park on September 28 and 29. The festival was open to the general public and allowed attendees to sample honey from various businesses, as well as see what other creations they could make from it. The products included shot glasses made of beeswax and candles, honeycombs, and honey-infused liqueurs. Some businesses offered a honey sampling, while others displayed a hive where attendees could see bees and queens up close. Honey and hives were plentiful at the festival. Many bees visited the tables. According to one of the business owner, bees do not attack people or attack honey when they are given food.
Rukhi Queen: A Honey Business in Focus
Tamar Kvaratskhelia, the owner and director at Rukhi Queen, is a honey business. She started her business in 2019 but it wasn’t established as a brand until 2020. In 2021, she opened a shop. She tells us that at the time, no one was exporting honey legally from Georgia.
Rukhi Queen’s career took off when she was invited to Doha for an exhibition. She sold out the event even before it ended.
Rukhi Queen started as a personal business focused on exports, but Tamar wanted to expand her business into retail. She “fell in Love” with a location at Orbeliani Bazaari because of its tourist traffic. After renting the space and recognizing that there was a demand for additional products, she decided on a bee-based product line.
Tamar explains that “Cosmetics was my first idea, because we already knew about using bee products in shampoos and soaps.” Rukhi Queen offers 15 certified cosmetics including soaps and scrubs. They also offer essential oils, lip glosses and lip scrubs. A bee-based line of hair care products will launch after the New Year.
Tamar points out that honey is not used as much in cosmetics as other bee products, such pollen. “Rukhi Queen beauty products tend sell out much quicker than our honey!” she says.
Rukhi Queen only exports to the Gulf countries. Tamar explains to us that honey and bee products are very popular in the Gulf countries.
“Our customers sometimes buy 10 or 20 items at a given time, both for themselves and for gifts,” she says.
Weather Challenges Affecting exports
Many regions of Georgia experienced heavy rains last year, which affected both the harvest and flavor of honey. Due to the rain, honey producers were unable collect the usual quantity, which led investors to look for supplies from other countries. Georgian honey producers are actively looking for new buyers to expand their market beyond the Gulf countries.
She says, “We’re trying our best to enter the huge European market.” “The populations are larger than in the Gulf Countries, and we need countries that can purchase larger amounts.”
Tamar has been a Beekeepers Union member since 2020. She joined the union to improve her business and to meet others in the industry. Aleko Papava was delighted to see that a young person was interested in the honey industry when she contacted the union’s President.
Tamar explains: “Our grandparents and our parents were the ones who took care of the bees. The union is looking to recruit new generations who can help grow and develop this industry. We can’t move forward without it. “Everything is changing. We have new technologies, medicines, and methods.”
The Georgian Beekeepers Union is a diverse organization. It is responsible for a variety of tasks, including ensuring the quality of honey, promoting beekeeping standards in the country, training beekeepers all year round, and treating bees with diseases. The Beekeepers Union organizes beekeepers’ meetings and festivals twice a yearly. Tamar focuses on the recent festival held in September to promote honey and raise awareness of the sector’s achievements and growth. She stresses that the union works actively in different fields to promote Georgian beekeeping globally.
Tamar notes the significant progress made by Union President Aleko papava in collaborating with Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture. The Union had little influence in the Ministry four years ago. But thanks to Papava, the industry is now getting more attention. Since then, they have held multiple meetings with officials to demonstrate positive results from the beekeeping industry.
Georgia celebrated the first World Bee Day in Mukhuri this year. The event brought beekeepers together at the Beekeeping Center of Zemo Svaneti. According to a report by ALCP2, the Georgian Beekeepers Union petitioned the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture for Mukhuri to be designated as the permanent celebration location for World Bee Day on May 20.
Tamar hopes that Rukhi Queen will enter the food industry within the next few years, highlighting the value of honey as an important food source.
Did you know …??
Georgia is home to a bee species known as the Mountain Gray Caucasian Honeybee. This bee species has the longest tongue of all honeybees, allowing them to reach parts of flowers that others cannot. This allows for different flavors in the honey produced and increases productivity. Mountain Gray bees have adapted to various conditions over the years, including those with extreme cold and heavy rain. According to the Georgian Beekeepers Union these characteristics, along with other attributes, have given honeybees an excellent name and allowed them recognition in various international award exhibits over the past decades. They have won gold in Germany (1961), Romanian (1965), and Russian (1971).
By Shelbi R. Ankiewicz
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