Can you make a living out of beekeeping

A living envelopes many different elements of cost. Probe further and we can assume that the average global living ranges from $3867 per person in Monaco to Sri Lanka ranked at #197 being $317 that it is problematic to answer having such a difference in living cost.

A jar of honey in the USA costs $8.50 to $10.50 per pound retail.

500g of honey in Sri Lanka costs about $3 per pound retail.

The value of honey changes – as does the cost of living – around the world.

What I can divulge is that one does make money with honey. But not that’s all… Here’s a few other ways to make money with bees:

• beeswax
• pollination
• making queen bees
• bee removals
• cosmetics
• training

Input costs vary too. How much I pay to make a bee hive compared to what you pay to make the same bee hive is likely to differ. Raw materials, labour, availability of materials and woodworking tools all contribute to overall cost of starting beekeeping.

An economic perspective shows beekeeping provides enough income for one to earn up to double the average wage per month from just a handful of bee hives in some countries. In others, it barely covers the cost of setting it up in a couple of years. Poverty relief programmes across the world utilise the multiple benefits of bee farming to make an impact on increased local food security and income.

On the other end of the spectrum, there are commercial beekeepers that generate small fortunes servicing a collection of different services relating to bees.

Guinness World Records announced that Centauri Honey is the world’s most expensive honey. A Turkish company bagged the record for the world’s most expensive honey obtained in a cave 1,800 meters deep in the Turkish city of Artvin

Top Ranking Honey Prices in the World:

• 1. Honey from Elvish, Turkey – 5,000 euros / kg
• 2. Honey from Life Mel Honey, Israel – 420 euros / kg
• 3. Yemen Sidr Honey – 280 euros / kg
• 4. Honey from Bashkiria, Russia – 120-200 euros / kg
• 5. Honey from the Opera Garnier in Paris, France – 120 euros / kg
• 6. Honey from the island of Socotra, Yemen – 110 euros / kg
• 7. Himalayan Honey, Nepal – 100 euros / kg
• 8. Manuka honey, New Zealand – 100 euros / kg