It is said that bees are disappearing from the world. It's not yet clear if global warming is to blame or if the cause is a mysterious virus, but what is completely clear is that beekeepers are worried.
"It's a mystery," says beekeeper Malka Ben-Zeev, the owner of Dvorat Hatavor at Moshav Tavor in the Galilee. She says that, in addition to the hot weather and disease, beekeepers have additional reasons for worry. They include the theft of hives, intense market competition, and even the increase in cellular antennas, which disrupt bees' flight.
Then there is the problem of ersatz honey. Although thousands of jars of fake honey were seized in Jerusalem last week, the Israel Honey Council says that consumers can be confident of its recently launched quality label. This label is placed on the honey produced by Israel's top 40 beekeepers.
Dvorat Hatavor has a turnover of NIS 2 million a year. Among all the factors cited above, Ben-Zeev is most worried about competition. "There are too many beekeepers. The large firms and imported honey are pushing the small beekeepers aside. She and her husband, Yigal, are fifth-generation beekeepers and own 120 hives.
Ben-Zeev turned to tourism to save her family firm. In 1993, when they realized that they could not live by honey alone, she and her husband set up a visitors' center that now generates 60% of their income. As for next year, she says, "Time will tell."
Israel's honey industry has an annual turnover of NIS 120 million, producing 3,200 tons a year by 500 apiaries. Exports total 100 tons, generating NIS 4 million, but honey imports total 500 tons a year, amounting to NIS 20 million. Israel's annual honey consumption is 3,600 tons a year, 40% of which, amounting to around NIS 40 million, is consumed over Rosh Hashana. The largest apiaries are Yad Mordechai Strauss Apiary Ltd., Emek Hefer Apiary Ltd., Dvash Shelanu Ltd., Ein Harod Apiary Ltd. Each teaspoon of honey provides 25 to 30 calories.
As the apples roll
Israel's severe drought is severely battering the country's apple orchards in Galilee and Golan, which rely on rainfall and lack alternatives, such as irrigation using treated wastewater or desalinated water. "Although we're close to the Kinneret, we can't pump water from it because of the difference in altitude," says Gabi Kuniel of Kibbutz Merom Golan.
Kuniel says that, after four years of drought, the kibbutz and other apple growers in the north are surrendering to desertification. "We've already uprooted 100 dunam (25 acres) of apple trees out of 1,000 dunam (250 acres). At the end of the shmitta year (the Biblically mandated fallow year), immediately after Rosh Hashana, we'll uproot another 150 dunam (37.5 acres). As a farmer, I can't stand in the field and watch the sad sight of uprooting. There is nothing more painful." He added that the kibbutz was switching from water-thirsty crops such as apples, to water-saving crops, such as vines.
40% of Merom Golan's revenue - NIS 16 million - comes from apples. The kibbutz has grown apples since it was founded in 1967 - specifically, six varieties of apples. Kuniel says that the kibbutz uses 750 cubic meters of water per dunam (3,000 cubic meters per acre) of apples, but that this year it only had 400 cubic meters per dunam available. The price of water, along with other agricultural inputs, has also gone up, to NIS 1.52 per cubic meter. "In Israel, we wait until the last minute, and only then do we think about what to do. We didn’t develop water infrastructures and transportation systems in time," he says. "It's tough, but we're not destitute."
Plants Production and Marketing Board apples division chairman Amos Levin adds, "Despite the drought, this year's apple crop is expected to increase by 15% thanks to professionalization in the industry and greater emphasis on water conservation and the use of shading methods to reduce sun damage." Levin is also general manager of Lower Galilee Development Company Ltd. unit Kirur Hagalil plant.
Israel's apple orchards cover 42,000 dunam (10,500 acres), 39% of which are located in moshavim, 25% in kibbutzim, 13% in cooperative villages, 18% in Druze villages on the Golan, and 5% in Arab and Druze villages in Israel. A good orchard produces 4-5 tons of apples per dunam (16-20 tons per acre). 95% of the country's apples are grown in the north. The harvest is August through November, most of which is refrigerated and marketed according to demand. Except for 1,000-7,000 tons of apples produced by the Golan Druze community, which is sent to Syria (although not this year because there was no surplus), and 3,000 tons which the Golan Druze send to the Gaza Strip, Israel does not export apples. 2,000 tons of apples are imported annually from the US and Europe. The average Israeli consumes 22 kilograms of apples a year. Apple consumption rises to 2,500 tons a week around Rosh Hashana compared with a weekly average of 2,000 tons.
Pomegranates
Fruit Marketing Board director Ilan Eshel said that although Israel's pomegranates industry is growing rapidly, Israel is still a relatively small player, producing 18,000 tons a year. India produces 500,000 tons, Iran - 382,000 tons, China - 260,000 tons, Turkey - 90,000 tons, and Tunisia - 25,000 tons.
Eshel added, however, "Israel is unique in the development of high-end pomegranate varieties, it's high crop yield per acre thanks to agro-technology developments, and in its use of every part of the fruit, including the peel."
Organic pomegranates are naturally the latest thing in the market. Almog Ashush, a student at the Sapir College, from Moshav Zimrat near Netivot, found his livelihood in organic pomegranates. In 2006, he planted 15 dunam (3.75 acres) of pomegranate trees at an investment of NIS 200,000.
"My father's friend, who works at Agrexco, advised me to plant organic pomegranates because it was a healthy and profitable crop at NIS 8 per kilogram, and I did so," he says. He added, "The health food trend will strengthen, boosting pomegranate sales in Israel and globally." He predicts NIS 170,000 revenue in the first year.
Israel has 6,500 dunam (1,375 acres) of pomegranate orchards. The crop totaled 18,000 tons in 2007. It is expected to total 20,000 this year, and with the planting of more trees, to reach 50,000 tons in 2012-13. Israel exported 3,900 tons of pomegranates in 2007 and will export 4,700 tons this year. Israel consumes 15,300 tons of pomegranates a year, including by industry. The crop is expected to make NIS 40 million in 2009.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 28, 2008
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