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A taste of mountain honey on World Bee Day

20.05.2020

This 20 May 2020 marks the third annual World Bee Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness on the essential role bees and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy, and on the many challenges they face today.

This year’s theme is “Bee Engaged” with a specific focus on bee production and good practices adopted by beekeepers to support their livelihoods and deliver quality products.

The theme is relevant to mountain communities and environments. Not only are bees integral for pollinating the diverse array of plants found in mountains, but they also provide sources of income to mountain communities around the world.

On 20 May starting at 12.00 hours, Mountain Partnership member Pradeep Mehta, Honorary Chairman and Founder Trustee Central Himalayan Institute for Nature & Applied Research (CHINAR), will be speaking at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation’s virtual World Bee Day celebration. The event will highlight the importance of bees and their products, and the role of beekeepers. It will also shed light on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the beekeeping sector and how it affects production, markets and, as a consequence, the livelihoods of beekeepers.

The Mountain Partnership boosts opportunities for mountain beekeepers and their products through the Mountain Partnership Products (MPP) initiative. The initiative includes a narrative label that tells the story of each mountain product, enabling consumers to make informed purchases by learning about products' origins and cultivation, processing and preservation methods, nutritional value and role in local cultures.

Currently, three honey products - from Bolivia, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia - are part of the MPP initiative.

Bolivian Melipona/Stingless Bee Honey

In the mountains of Bolivia’s Serranía del Iñao National Park, at the foot of the Eastern Cordillera, 160 women beekeepers harvest honey from stingless bees (Melipona). Since ancient times, the honey has been an essential medicine for the Guaraní people. The bees feed on native plants, whose flowers, rich in alkaloids and flavonoids, give the honey vitamins, minerals, and anti-bacterial and cicatrizing properties. The melipona honey was granted the MPP label in 2018. Since then the Mountain Partnership Secretariat and MP members Slow Food and Fundacion Pasos have worked together to strengthen the women beekeepers’ capacities on product development, which enabled them to sell the honey in a nationwide drugstore and increase their sales price by 80 percent.

Kyrgyzstan White Honey

This new MPP product is a unique, white-colored honey from the highlands of the At-Bashy village in the Naryn district of Kyrgyzstan. The white honey is produced at more than 3 000 metres by a small, family-run business on the fringes of the Tien Shan Mountains. The family will now be using the MPP label to help bolster their marketing and expand their national market reach.

Mongolia Honey

Also new to the MPP initiative, this Mongolian honey comes from bees who glide along the highlands and the lowlands of the Shaamar district, pollinating in the mountains and the many flowers of the wild, open fields. The bees’ diverse landscape for pollinating makes this honey especially rich in minerals and micronutrients, and is overall a great health supplement. The honey is cultivated by a group of 20 smallholders called the Organic Honey Cooperative. Now that they are part of the MPP initiative, they can market their product with the label that tells the story of their special honey.

Join the MP this World Bee Day in celebrating mountain bees and the beekeepers who protect these precious pollinators and share their delicious honey with the world.

Learn more about the FAO World Bee Day virtual event