Animal farm

Several new examples of companies raising live animals have emerged as feasible models to be adopted by farmers. Researchers and investors have opted to develop the techniques used in rearing certain types of animals, such as aquaculture, beekeeping, and cattle. They have achieved very promising results after years of trials. International organizations have also launched several programs to financially support farmers and to provide them with the training required to scale up. These efforts have borne fruit, and after a few years of trials these initiatives have proved successful. Farmers are making fair profits, and there is potential for further accomplishments.

Beekeeping

Beekeepers have recently worked on developing their skills to benefit from the entire value chain of their bees. From the beehives they are extracting pollen, royal jelly, propolis, and bee venom in addition to honey. Some beekeepers are going further and producing, Chairwomen of the High Metn Beekeeping Cooperative, which comprises 70 beekeepers. Salha is also the owner of Lareine, a honey producer made up of 700 beehives. “Experienced beekeepers are adopting new management processes for their beehives and they are making a lot of profit,” Salha said. , owner of Golden Queen, established a facility for producing a pure race of queen bees and crossbreeding in Hosrayel, with the support of USAID in 2016. “This step has raised the production of [our] beehives from an average of seven kilograms of honey per year to 20 kilograms,” said Abi Chedid. Imported breeds are more productive and less aggressive, while the local varieties provide high quality and flavorful honey. Golden Queen is selling part of the queens’ produce to Syria and Jordan. Golden Queen has 2,500 beehives in Hosrayel. Each beehive produces up to 20 kilograms of honey per year, as well as 10 kilograms of pollen, 15 grams of royal jelly, four grams of bee venom, and 3.6 kilograms of propolis per year.