World Bee Day – May 20th, 2021

"If the bees disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of
life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.”
(Albert Einstein)

Israeli expert Haim Kalev during an on-the-spot course on Beekeeping, Rwanda

Relevant SDGs:

By acting as pollinators, bees promote biodiversity (Goal 15) and fight

hunger (Goal 2). They provide decent jobs (Goal 8) in agriculture and
other sectors, advancing Goal 1 - No poverty.
 Executive Summary

The United Nations General Assembly declared May 20th as World

Bee Day, recognizing the crucial role bees play in increasing crop
yields and promoting food security and nutrition. World Bee Day
aims to raise awareness of the need to protect and preserve the
bees' colonies in order to reach a world without hunger.

MASHAV marks the World Bee Day sharing Israel experience in

the field, in order to raise awareness of the need for bee
population conservation and its importance for the entire
ecosystem.

MASHAV regards beekeeping as a tool for development. It allows improving the livelihoods,
nutrition and food security in the developing world while empowering thousands of
smallholder farmers. Beekeeping not only helps bring individual families out of poverty but
also boosts local and national economies.

Moreover, apiculture is a feasible way to generate job opportunities and increase incomes,
while at the same time maintaining natural biodiversity. Bees do not require daily attention
and beekeeping does not take up valuable land or time, which would have been spent on
other farming activities. Apiculture gives some of the world's poorest people the opportunity
to harvest commodities of international quality and value. This is why beekeeping not only
helps bring individual families out of poverty but also boosts local and national economies.

MASHAV pursues a wide range of projects to share the knowhow and relevant techniques to
help the developing world make the most of the ecological and economic benefits offered by
bees and beekeeping for biodiversity enhancement and livelihood development.

 Modern apiculture management: Honey, by-products and pollination – International

Course taught every year in Russian and English at MATC MASHAV Agricultural
Training Center – Shefayim.
 Center of Excellence for Integrated Beekeeping
Development in India – In November 2017 a new
Center of Excellence was inaugurated in
Ramnagar, Haryana, within the framework of the
Indo-Israeli Agricultural Project.
 Short-term consultancies in India – by Israeli
experts
 On the spot courses and short-term consultations
on Beekeeping – Conducted upon request from
host countries around the world.
 Did You Know?

Bees are among the only insects in the world that produce food people can eat

Bees pollinate as many as 170,000 species of plants

To make 1kg of honey, a bee must visit 4 million flowers and fly four times the distance
around the world

One honeybee alone can produce 1/12 teaspoon of honey in its life

Only the queen in the hive lays eggs, around 1,500 per day. Worker bees are all female.

Of the 100 species of crops that provide 90 percent of the world’s food, over 70 are
pollinated by bees.

The vast majority of pollinator species are wild, including more than 20,000 species of bees.

Honeybees are the only bee species that die after a sting

MASHAV is organizing an ONLINE EVENT to mark World Bee Day 2021

Registration Link: https://bit.ly/3uBEmFg

Meeting ID: 89500776425
 MASHAV Photos
(Credit: MASHAV)

Course on Modern apiculture management, Israel Trainee of the on-the-spot course on Artificial Insemination of
Queens, Ethiopia

Israeli expert Haim Kalev during an on-the-spot course, Uzbekistan Center of Excellence (CoE) for Integrated Beekeeping
Development, India

Beekeeping Resource Center, Myanmar Israeli expert during a short-term consultancy in El

Salvador