16 March

Sagaing Region has produced 3,000 tonnes of honey per year, according the Department of Apiculture in Kalay Township.

Sunflower honey from Kalay in Sagaing Region won the world’s best honey award in the international honey contest in Montreal, Canada.

“There are two types of honey in Sagaing Region– sunflower honey from Kalay and plum honey from Kani, Budalin and Yinmabin.” said an official from the Apiculture Department.

The official also said, “Sagaing Region produces 3,000 tonnes of honey a year which makes up 70 per cent of the country’s total honey export.”

Beekeepers has produced sunflower honey in Kalay from January to June by keeping hundreds of thousands of bee hive boxes, and produced plum honey in Kani, Budalin and Yinmabin where many plum farms are located in the year’s remaining months.

A beekeeper said, “Eighty per cent of beekeepers in Myanmar keep their hundreds of thousands of bee hive boxes on the plum farms in Sagaing Region to produce plum honey.”

“China and Thailand purchase all of the exported plum honey, while Japan, Singapore, the United States, and European countries purchase sunflower honey.” he added.

Recent honey prices in Kalay averaged K 3,500 a viss (1 viss=3.6 pounds). Six hundreds bee hive boxes can produce 60 barrels (1 barrel =158.99 litres) of honey.

Keeping bee hive boxes on sunflower plantations can boost the quality of sunflower seeds. In previous years, thirty two baskets of sunflower seeds produced a barrel of sunflower oil, but this year, only 29 baskets made up the same amount, said a local sunflower farmer in Kalay.—Chindwinthar (Translated by Kyaw Zin Tun)