Beekeeping in Ukraine: state, problems, solutions

Ukraine is recognized in the world as the homeland of cultural beekeeping, founded by our compatriot P.I. Prokopovich, who created the first school of beekeepers and developed the basics of the industry almost 200 years ago. The production fund of the industry has about 400 thousand beekeepers and about 3 million bee families. Regionalized breeds of bees: Carpathian, Ukrainian steppe, Polissya. Production of honey on the average 70 - 80 thousand t. Subjects of breeding business: bee - nurseries - 8; plempasiky - 19. Legislation: Law of Ukraine "On Beekeeping" (№ 1492-III of February 22, 2000), bylaws to it and other regulations.
 Honey consumption: on average, one Ukrainian consumes about 0.8-1.2 kg of honey per year (US - 0.76 kg, EU countries - 0.65 kg, China - 0.25 kg). According to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of November 22, 2004 № 1591 "On approval of nutrition standards in educational and children's health and recreation facilities" the rate of honey consumption should be about 2.5 kg. 
 The beekeeping industry of Ukraine is an important component of the state economy, which determines the volume, supply and cost of basic foods for the population. Beekeeping is the basis and source of sustainable development for a number of industries, in particular, crop production, the basis of which is the breeding, keeping and use of bees for pollination of entomophytic plants for agricultural purposes and increase their yields, pharmaceutical, food and others. 
 Based on the requirements of the Laws of Ukraine "On State Support of Agriculture of Ukraine" and "On Beekeeping" the Program of development of the beekeeping industry of Ukraine for the period 2016-2020 has been developed. 0 million and production of natural honey up to 120 thousand tons, wax up to 2.8 thousand tons;  Today beekeeping has mainly pollination and honey direction. In addition to honey, the industry also produces additional beekeeping products - propolis, pollen, perga, royal jelly, bee venom, which are raw materials for the food and pharmaceutical industries. 
 In particular, until recently, Ukraine was one of the three largest exporters of honey (after China and Argentina). The main market for Ukrainian honey is the countries of the European Union. Among the main exporters are Germany, Poland and Belgium. However, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy in 2018, honey exports from Ukraine decreased by more than 25% and as a result, Ukraine lost the status of a third country - exporter of honey in the world - in 2017 exported about 68 thousand tons of honey, in 2018 this figure dropped to 49.4 thousand tons. The main reason for this was the poisoning of bees by plant protection products, which is one of the main problems of the industry today. 
 This applies, in particular, to the violation of technological requirements for the treatment of plant protection products and failure to notify beekeepers of such treatments in accordance with Art. 37 of the Law of Ukraine "On Beekeeping". Another important problem is the insufficient level of use of bees as pollinators of entomophilous agricultural plants and as a consequence of the decrease in quantitative and qualitative indicators of crop production and the level of profitability of the beekeeping industry.