BEEKEEPING
BEEKEEPING, breeding of bees producing honey, bees wax and other bee-keeping products, also for pollination of entomophilous cultural plants; a branch of livestock breeding, an ancient business of the Bashkirs. In 1997, businesses with all types of ownership had 188.4 thous. bee colonies in total and produced 4,898 t of gross honey, in 2008 – 289.8 and 12,104, in
2017 – 335.9 and 12,553, correspondingly. In 1958, Pribelsky Branch of the Bashkirsky Reserve was established to research the Burzyan wild hive bees living conditions and to protect them. In 1989, the Bashkir Bee Breeding and Apitherapy Centre was established. In 2006, the Bashkir bee received the status of a breed. Based on the main B.-k. indices (the number of bee colonies, volume of commercial honey production, scientific research, product processing technologies), the RB ranks 1st in the RF (2017).
