Trade barriers and economic impact of organic beekeeping in Portugal
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abstract
In Portugal, according to the official data provided by the Portuguese Veterinary Authority),
available in the Report of the National Beekeeping Program 2010, beekeeping is carried out by
17.291 beekeepers, which own a total of 562.557 colonies. According to the Research Institute
of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) this represents only 3,6% of the economic value of the Portuguese
organic production, given that only 119 beekeepers were registered as organic operators, with
a total of 15.927 colonies. Portuguese organic beekeeping are still far below other European
countries average such as Italy (8%), and even if compared with the 5,8% of Portuguese organic
farming, which should lead to more than 32.628 hives. Additionally, the great potential that
Portugal has due to its soil, climate, but also environmental conditions (very suitable to organic
beekeeping) and the consumer’s appreciation of organic products are key factors to strength
the Portuguese organic beekeeping sector.
With this study, and considering that organic beekeeping is already established in Portugal,
we aim to encourage the conversion/initiation in organic beekeeping of a significant number of
producers, providing them with a true picture of the Portuguese organic beekeeping sector and
its potential, based on the experience of beekeepers already certified as organic producers. The
information is obtained recurring to individual questionnaires, made directly to organic certified
beekeepers and oriented for the evaluation of their beekeeping activity.
The preliminary results of this research allowed us to establish a preliminary profile of
beekeepers working under Organic Production Mode (OPM): only 24% of the respondents
have beekeeping as the main economic activity, and although the majority (92%) consider
that organic honey has added market value, problems were identified either in production
and marketing. The most related difficulty of beekeeping under OPM is the effectiveness of the
treatments against Varroa, pointing the need to obtain alternative and more efficient methods.
Most respondents (56%) reported that there is need to improve consumer’s recognition of
Organic Honey, which is considered to be an important step towards production increment and product added value.
