Beekeeping in Ukraine

Beekeeping in Ukraine is a developed ^[1] branch of agriculture in the country . Ukraine takes 1st place in Europe in honey production and 3rd in the world (2015) ^[2] .

In 2015, the number of bee colonies in the country is almost 3 million, and the number of beekeepers exceeds 400 thousand. ^[2] According to some data (2016), the average age of a Ukrainian beekeeper is 51.3 years ^[3] .

Most bee colonies in Vinnitsa, Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zaporizhzhya, Nikolaev, Khmelnitsky, Zhytomyr regions (at least 100 thousand in each) ^[4] .

In 2013, 5% (yoy) more honey was produced - 73.7 thousand tons ^[4] . In 2012, honey production also exceeded 70 thousand tons, of which 13 thousand were exported ^[1] . In 2014, 36.3 thousand tons were exported, or 67.6% more than in the previous year ^[2] .

Most of all honey is exported to Germany, Russia, the USA, Austria and Poland ^[1] . For 2015, honey is exported to 22 countries ^[2] .

It is declared as the annual scientific-practical conference "Modern trends in the development of beekeeping in Ukraine." In 2017, it was held for the second time - in January at the Sumy Agrarian National University ^[5] .

In the fall of 2013, the 43rd International Apimondia Congress was held in Kiev.

Since 2016, the specialty of a beekeeper in Ukraine has been included in the list of professions of national importance ^{[6] [7]} .

On August 19, the country celebrates the professional holiday of beekeepers - the day of the beekeeper .

The year 2003 stands out in the history of beekeeping in independent Ukraine - when up to a third of all bee colonies died ^[8] .