BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 26. Iran's honey production for the current Iranian year (from March 20, 2024 through March 20, 2025) has increased by over 5.63 percent compared to the previous year (from March 21, 2023 through March 19, 2024), said Mir Mohsen Mousavian, director of the National Union of Beekeepers of Iran, Trend reports.
Speaking to Iranian media, Mousavian noted that the country's honey production for the current year reached around 128,000 tons, compared to 121,000 tons in the previous year. Key honey-producing regions in Iran include West Azerbaijan, East Azerbaijan, Fars, Kurdistan, Isfahan, and Mazandaran provinces.
Mousavian also mentioned that, in addition to honey, Iran produced around 11 tons of royal jelly, 862 tons of bee pollen, 211 tons of propolis, 2.6 thousand tons of beeswax, and 9.6 kilograms of bee venom (apitoxin) during the year.
According to calculations, Iran has around 92,100 beekeeping establishments, housing about 10.8 million beehives.
"Based on the Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] statistics, the world produces about 2.15 million tons of honey annually. Iran ranks third in global production, following China and Türkiye," Mousavian noted.
Notably, Iran has developed a 4-year (from March 21, 2022 through March 20, 2026) program for the development of beekeeping in Iran has been prepared. Based on this program, beekeepers will be supported on insurance, risk reduction, production increase and other issues.