Factory for producing pure race of queen bees

The Afif Abi Shdid Institution for Agriculture and Trade, a beekeeping and honey production company, opened a factory in Hosrayel for producing a pure race of queen bees and crossbreeding them, in early 2015.

The $500,000 factory with a total built-up area of 1,650 square meters will initially make use of these queen bees for its own honey production, but will later cover market needs. Part of the production of the pure race of queens will be sold locally and the rest exported to Egypt, Jordan and other Arab countries.

The country imports around 6,000 queen bees, annually, at $30 apiece.

The company will work with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to build a laboratory for artificially inseminating the queen bees.
Abi Shdid, major shareholder and General Manager, said: “This project will move the local beekeeping sector to an advanced stage.”

He said that producing a pure race of queens would raise the production of each hive from an average of seven kilograms per year to 37 kilograms, weather permitting.

The company owns around 2,300 hives and produces 50 tons of honey, annually.