At the foot of majestic palm trees, Mohamed Aliaoui lifts the lid on one of the dozens of buzzing beehives he oversees in central Iraq, where drought and rising temperatures are affecting honey production.
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In Babylon province, his company has dozens of beehives spread across two locations. In the middle of the thirsty orchards of the village of Al-Reghila, about forty wooden crates are lined up next to melons and watermelons that are struggling to grow under the blazing sun that cracks the earth.
To escape the summer temperatures of almost 50 degrees, most of the honey production for the season has been relocated: seven locations have been moved to the heights of autonomous Kurdistan (North), where the bees benefit from some freshness and plenty of green, source of nectar and pollen .
Photo: AFP
“If we don’t relocate the bees, they will go out,” explains Mr. Aliaoui, deputy director of the Najaf Beekeepers’ Association.
Because in central Iraq “there is no water, so no plants,” the 43-year-old beekeeper told AFP. In order to find greenery and food, the bee has to travel longer and longer distances: “Four to five kilometers” instead of a few hundred meters in lush vegetation, he emphasizes.
“It affects his life expectancy. The worker can live 60 days in good conditions. In the current circumstances, it’s 20 days,” explains this hive manager at a private producer, recalling that the optimum temperature for a bee is 30-35 degrees.
Consequence: While a beehive produced between 20 and 25 kilos per year at the beginning of the 2000s, today it is hardly more than five kilos.
Photo: AFP
On this July morning, Mr. Aliaoui and his team, their faces protected by a beekeeper’s hat, inspect the Al-Reghila beehives. Equipped with a smoker whose smoke calms the bees, they lift the lid and take out several frames: on the wax cells, the workers crowd around the queen, who is much larger.
sandstorms
Iraq, classified by the United Nations as one of the top five countries in the world most vulnerable to certain impacts of climate change, is suffering the fourth consecutive drought season this year.
In addition to the lack of rainfall, rising temperatures and rampant desertification, the government has primarily criticized the Turkish and Iranian dams built upstream, which are responsible for a drastic reduction in the flow of the rivers crossing Iraq.
Hachem al-Zeheiri, director of the beekeeping department at the Ministry of Agriculture, remains optimistic. In 2022, Iraqi honey production — excluding Kurdistan — was 870 tons, up from just over 700 tons in 2021. “It’s increasing every year,” he says.
In 2022 Kurdistan produced 850 tons. Mr. Zeheiri has prepared a study on the benefits of transporting beehives from central and southern Iraq to Kurdistan and vice versa “as needed”. He also urges beekeepers to take the necessary precautions: place hives under a thatched roof, close to trees and a water source.
Thirty years ago, Zeinab al-Maamouri became acquainted with beekeeping, a hobby that her husband pursued in his spare time. Today the entrepreneur owns 250 beehives.
“The rise in temperature affects the bees, the queen stops laying eggs entirely,” reveals the fifty-year-old when it gets too hot.
In a country prone to sandstorms, “if a storm comes and they’re outside, half the bees can’t come back,” she laments.
In a male-dominated profession, she once headed the women’s section of the Arab Beekeepers’ Union. Despite the challenges, her passion remains.
Under an awning in the courtyard of her house in Babylon, she keeps about forty hives. Sheltered from the roaming bees, equipped with a kitchen knife, she cuts off a large chunk of wax dripping with sweet honey for an impromptu tasting.