Saudi Arabia has shown an interest in purchasing all of honey produced under Pakistan’s Billion Tree Honey Project.
According to reports, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s PTI government would broaden the project to raise honey production by 9% over the next two years.
The number of beekeepers before launch of this project was 7,000 in the country and they were producing 7,500 metric ton honey annually through 300,000 bee colonies across the country. Now the government has set a target to produce 70,000 metric ton honey annually.
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As a result, Rs. 2 billion will be invested in the honey project, which will entail the establishment of 30 collection locations as well as three quality control laboratories.
The project’s honey gained attention when it was presented to the UK High Commissioner, Christian Turner, and the Saudi Ambassador, Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Malki, by the Adviser on Climate Change, Amin Aslam.
Saudi Arabia has stated that it will purchase all of the honey generated through the programme.
Billion Tree Honey initiative
In December 2020, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced the Billion Tree Honey project, which will see one million hectares of Pakistani forests produce seven different types of honey.
There are four known species of honeybees in Pakistan, among which three are indigenous and one is imported species. The indigenous species include Apis cerana, Apis dorsata and Apis florae, while the imported species is Apis mellifera.
Various plants species have been planted in the recent months in Margalla Hills National Park and other areas that would help produce quality honey in coming years including Kao, Bair, Kikar, Phulai, acacia, moringa and mulberry.
