The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) ADAFSA has managed to create several generations of high-quality queen bees, stabilise bees’ genetic traits, and assess bee species’ performance.
Since 2015, ADAFSA has intensified efforts to develop Emirati bee species. Over the past years ADAFSA’s development sector has been raising queen bees during two seasons a year, the first season begins in mid-February to mid-April, while the second one continues from mid-September to the end of November. This helps maintain the Emirati young queen bees’ fertility and enhance their activity in laying eggs.
Moreover, ADAFSA has succeeded in developing the fifth generation of the Emirati queen bees and raising several queens to be distributed to beekeepers in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This comes in line with ADAFSA’s efforts to develop the Emirati bee species, produce high-quality honey, ensure the sustainability of honey production, and reduce hives import.
On the occasion of the World Bee Day, which is observed on 20 May, ADAFSA said it adopts a project to develop beekeeping industry in Abu Dhabi under the directives of H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of ADAFSA. The project relies on conducting the necessary studies and research to develop and test beekeeping practices, with the aim of disseminating such practices to beekeepers, to support them improve and ensure the sustainability of this vital sector.
ADAFSA affirmed its commitment to organizing work processes in Abu Dhabi’s beekeeping sector, carrying out specialised programs to advance it, and developing the Emirati species to produce high-quality honey varieties. In addition to the environmental benefit of bees in terms of plant pollination, ADAFSA noted that honey production is one side of the sustainable agricultural development and food security system, as honey is of the products being eaten daily due to its great nutritional benefits.
Furthermore, ADAFSA has established a high technology equipped-laboratory at its research station in Al Kuwaitat in Al Ain, to diagnose honey bee diseases and pests. In addition to qualifying and training of national cadres on diagnosing honeybee diseases and pests, ADAFSA helped beekeepers to detect bees’ diseases, allowing them provide the necessary recommendations and technical advice to control these diseases and pests.
The lab has succeeded in proving the Emirati bees could survive throughout the year and in the summer hot. Experience has shown the proper apiary management and reducing the impact of the varroa mite and other diseases on hives helped increase the rate of keeping hives alive throughout the year from 10% to 96%, by providing many worker bees in hives, nutrition supplements, water, proper sunshades and well-ventilation.
ADAFSA further develops programmes to educate beekeepers in all regions across Abu Dhabi. The authority’s teams provide extension services to beekeepers, to introduce them to the best practices for beekeeping, raising queen bees, combating honeybee diseases and pests, and improving production quality. ADAFSA also builds beekeepers’ capacities in artificial insemination of queen bees, larval vaccination and queen bees’ production.