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Organic wildflower honey cultivates sweet success for Mongolian beekeepers

12.10.2023

Within the highlands and lowlands of Mongolia's forest-steppe Selenge province lies an ideal haven for cultivating one of nature's sweetest gifts – organic wildflower honey.

This special honey originates from the diverse districts of Bayangol, Shaamar and Sukhbaatar in northern Mongolia, where it is meticulously produced at more than 1 500 metres above sea level.

The tradition of beekeeping in Selenge province stretches back to 1959. This land, rich in both fertile soil and abundant wildflowers, has become Mongolia's bee farming hub. Here, beekeepers evolve into more than just hive caretakers; they become herbalists, botanists, naturalists and zoologists, working in harmony with the land and nature.

These dedicated beekeepers strategically position their hives in remote, uncontaminated fields, allowing their bees to forage on the local and diverse flora. The landscape's diversity makes this honey especially rich in minerals and micronutrients, and therefore a great health supplement embraced by the local community for its immune-boosting proprieties and as a sugar alternative.

In addition to wild grazing practices, the Mongolian beekeepers handle this natural harvest with the utmost care, harvesting in the early morning hours and then carefully processing and packaging in a local workshop. This ensures that their organic wildflower honey is high in quality and meets the standards of both the Participatory Guarantee System (PGS) and the Mongolian Bee Farmers Society.

However, these achievements come with many challenges. The beekeepers travel great distances – sometimes up to 250 km – from their community centre to reach the wild forest areas where their bees thrive, which often means early mornings and long days spent caring for their hives. They also face financial pressures due to high production costs and limited market access.

In response to these challenges, the Mongolian beekeepers adopted a collaborative approach. Forty-three smallholders, of whom 29 are women, working with three cooperatives – "Kharaagiin Bayan Urs", "Munkhtsovdon" and "Organic Honey" – joined forces to collect and harvest organic wildflower honey. The cooperatives' members support each other every step of the way, from harvesting to processing and packaging the honey to share production costs and maintain high quality.

For the cooperative members, this honey signifies more than sustenance; it is a symbol of tradition, empowerment and a profound connection to the land. Ariunaa, the director of the "Munkhtsovdon" cooperative, explains her journey began with a simple desire to cultivate healthy and organic products for her family. This aspiration then blossomed into a cooperative of dedicated members, who came together to improve their livelihoods and support their community.

The Mongolian beekeepers’ dedication has garnered support from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Mongolia, a Mountain Partnership member who has solidified its commitment to agroecological production practices in mountains by endorsing the Ranikhet Declaration and joining the Mountain Partnership Products (MPP) Initiative. Created by the Mountain Partnership together with Slow Food International, the MPP initiative is a certification and labelling scheme based on environmentally and ethically sound value chain approaches. It provides technical and financial support to smallholder mountain producers from developing countries to establish enterprises, enhance marketing skills and boost their livelihoods by strengthening mountain product value chains.

Since 2020, the organic wildflower honey from Selenge province has been marketed using the MPP label. This led to a rise in PGS certified producers, increasing from 19 to 27, and a 17 percent increase in overall honey production from 2019 onward.

For example, the beekeeper Todorkhoisuren Noost, who tends to 30 bee colonies and collects organic honey from wildflowers using organic treatments, sells her honey through an organic shop in Selenge using Mongolia’s organic logo and the Mountain Partnership Products labels. Since 2020, her harvested honey has increased from 200 kg to 500 kg in 2023.

Collaborating with ADRA’s focal points and the marketing experts of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, the cooperative union has worked diligently to set up local shops where smallholder, agroecological and locally sourced products, such as the organic wildflower honey, can be sold.

Through their collective efforts, these cooperatives promote sustainable farming, provide a highly nutritious product, and support their local economy. The MPP label for organic wildflower honey is opening new opportunities, empowering Mongolian beekeepers toward a better future. These bee farmers are redefining their livelihoods and enriching their communities and the lives of those who value and benefit from ethically produced products.

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Learn more about wildflower honey

Photo by ADRA Mongolia