“At the Ministry of Agriculture, we place great emphasis on cooperation with beekeepers, as we are aware of how important and necessary bees are. Therefore, we have taken actions supporting beekeepers, i.e. subsidies for bee families or the recent regulation concerning labelling of honey”, emphasised the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Robert Telus, during the conference ‘Beekeeping – responsible hobby, responsible business’, which was held at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.

Minister Robert Telus pointed out that beekeeping is more of a passion than a profession and a beekeeper is closer, than anyone else, to nature, environment, and climate.

“Beekeepers know how important and necessary biodiversity is”, stressed the head of the Ministry of Agriculture.

“Thank you very much for your hobby, that is so important. You also show that it is possible to market directly starting the Agricultural Retail Trade (RHD). This is the direction of development we are striving for and a process which, fortunately, can no longer be stopped, involving other sectors as well”, said Minister Telus.

During the conference, experts recalled the role and importance of bees in the ecosystem, mainly the interdependence of the existence of insect-pollinated plants and bees. It is therefore necessary to be aware of the impact of bees on the environment and the impact of the environment on bee colonies.

There were 2 million bee colonies in the registers kept by the Veterinary Inspection in 2021. The largest number, over 261 thousand, was registered in the Lublin Voivodeship (13% of the total), and the smallest in the Opole Voivodeship – 55.3 thousand (2.7%). Compared to 2020, the number of bee colonies nationwide increased by 14% (247.5 thousand).

In 2020, almost 25 thousand tonnes of honey were exported from Poland. It was sold mainly in European Union countries.

Adrian Andrzejewski