Benefits and economic contributions of the production of honey from bees

Beekeeping is the care of honey bee hives for the pollination of crops, and the obtaining of honey and other products. It is a very old and widespread activity, believed to have originated in the Middle East. Several thousand years ago, the ancient Egyptians already raised bees and traded honey and wax along the east coast of Africa. Until 1851, beekeepers harvested honey and wax, killing bee colonies. That year, the American Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth discovered the principle of space in bees: they leave a space of about 6 mm between the wax combs; if this distance is respected between the adjacent frames of the artificial hives, and between these and their walls, the combs will not adhere to the neighbors.Langstroth's discovery enabled honey and wax to be collected from the combs individually without destroying the colony. It also made it possible to control disease and maintain a larger number of colonies.

Beehive products are very beneficial and stimulating for producers, when they are obtained from specific flowers, these honey flowers being sweeter and more transparent, they have a high value in the international market, therefore it must have an impact on the quality of these productions.

Honey from bees is an important element in the diet of many animals, while in the human diet it is used for many purposes.

Honey has an energy value of about 3,307 cal / kg. It easily absorbs moisture from the air and is therefore used as a humidifying agent for tobacco and in the baking industry. Glucose crystallizes in honey at room temperature, leaving a layer of dissolved fructose without crystallizing. For its commercialization, honey is usually heated through special processes to around 66 ° C in order to dissolve the crystals, and then it is poured into hermetic containers to prevent its crystallization. The fructose in crystallized honey ferments easily at about 16 ° C or higher. Fermented honey is used to make mead or mead.

Royal jelly, liquid secreted by worker bees through special glands located in the head. Mixed with secretions from the stomach, it forms a dense food paste of yellowish color, with which the queen larvae are fed. It is made up of two thirds of water, in which amino acids, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and free fatty acids are dissolved. It is used to manufacture cosmetic and pharmaceutical preparations, supposedly effective against the phenomena of wear caused by age. To obtain the starting material for these products, a swarm is stimulated to breed queen larvae. These are removed after three days, after which the nutrient substance is isolated.

The production of honey and its derivatives is a highly priced and highly competitive product in the international market, with a secure market, mainly with Germany and Japan for use as raw materials in the production of drugs and medicines in the pharmaceutical industries.

The production of honey and its derivatives has economic and productive advantages which are listed below:

It is an exportable ruble that has a safe market and with prices that stimulate production and that favors the development of beekeeping in new investments to guarantee the maximum possible use of all the capacities available to the agricultural sector, therefore it is economically justifiable and it is convenient to invest in the aforementioned economic line. China, Mexico and Argentina are the main exporting countries; Germany and Japan are the main importers. The former Soviet Union (USSR) produced about a quarter of the world's stocks; however, it did not participate in the international honey market.

The honey bee is of great economic importance as it is one of the main pollinating insects in crops.

The importance of the honey bee for agriculture is illustrated by the fact that most of the main crops require that its flowers be visited. Pollination is the passage or transit of pollen from the stamen in which it has been produced to the pistil in which it is to germinate, in essence it is the process of transporting pollen to the female structure of the flower for its subsequent germination, being the honey bee is the perfect insect in this process, as by insects for its pollination.

Among the crops that depend on insect pollination or that their production is greater when bees abound in the flowering season, are the fruits (almond, avocado, blackberry, cherry, cucumber, currant, grape, mango, melon, peach or, pear, plum, raspberry, strawberry) and the seed crops (for example, asparagus, cabbage or cabbage, carrot, cotton, cucumber, onion, radish, squash, etc.).

The pollen of these plants is too heavy and sticky to be dispersed by the wind, in contrast to that of cereals and herbaceous plants, which are pollinated by the wind and do not require the help of insects. The honey bee is the only insect that can be transported to crop fields for the express purpose of pollination.

The employment of a small labor force is needed: In the production of honey, a small labor force is needed, since an apiary of 50-75 hives is attended by a single worker, only in harvesting the harvest that more workers are needed, during This process, which is several days of work, also being a small labor force and having high prices for productions, can stimulate workers with a salary according to the results obtained. No increase in land is needed for the Production: The producers' apiaries will be moved from one place to another in correspondence of the flowering levels of each place in each stage of the productive period. It is the only agricultural production that can be stored for a long time without a refrigeration system:Honey and its derivatives are long-lasting product stored, this brings as advantages that if it cannot be marketed for any reason, it can be stored for another production cycle. Auxiliary productions such as hens and eggs for their favorable conditions for these productions: In the hives all the residues of the productions and waste generated by the bees are used, as food for the hens, in addition to the fact that the bees in the hives generate a characteristic heat that the hens need for the egg production,being a propitious place of these two productions as self-consumption for farmers In interviews with several honey producers the average yields of beekeepers range between 40-50 kg of honey per hive and 17kg of wax per ton of honey extracted, statistically recorded, but there are More productive potential taking into account this is important for the success of the investment in this economic line.The work with the hive requires technical knowledge of the use and manipulation of the means of work and the rigorous work that the beekeeper must carry out to take advantage of all potentialities and benefits provided by honey bees and to avoid diseases due to poor treatment and inappropriate use of the hive productsThat is why they have to be rigorous with the recruitment of the employees who are going to be hired to carry out this investment, since in them is the success of achieving the returns and the level of benefits that are projected in the development of this process.

The use of work tools for the management of hives, for which this lifting of the necessary tools is carried out.

Table No. 1. Utensils necessary for the management of the hive

PRODUCTS	U / M	QUANTITY
Smoker	one	one
Beekeeping Brush	one	one
Strainer	one	one
Wax Strainer	one	one
Paring Knife	one	one
Honeycomb Extractor	one	one
Screen mesh	m	two
Stamping table	one	one
Beekeeping Veil	one	4
Total

The acquisition of are durable resources that using and managing it optimally can extend its useful life and lower production costs regardless of its high acquisition price, since it has a productive support that promotes the recovery of investment in a short time.

The materials for the hive are part of the process for the production of honey and its derivatives, being an important part of the investment project, therefore the following are the materials that are:

Table No 2. Materials needed for the hive to obtain the production of honey and its derivatives

PRODUCTS	U / M	QUANTITY
Swarm of bees	kg	200 2 / c
Fertile Reyna	One	100 1 / c
Langston sheets	one	1900 19 / c
Half rise sheets	one	800 8 / c
Beehive Cap	one	100 1 / c
Langston box	one	200 2 / c
Langston frame	one	2700 27 / c

In the production process of honey and its derivatives, some auxiliary materials are used, which are very useful in the process of obtaining honey; therefore, the removal of auxiliary materials to be used in the production process is presented.