THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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July, 2025, Ankara…
According to the information compiled from the Beekeeping Product Report of the General Directorate of Agricultural Reform, Türkiye stands out in global beekeeping thanks to its rich vegetation, climate and favourable geographical location.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has advised the beekeeping sector, which has been negatively affected by factors such as climate change and agricultural pesticides, to turn to alternative sources of income such as value-added products other than honey and beekeeping tourism.
Local and unique honey varieties such as flower, pine and chestnut honey are attracting attention in Turkish beekeeping.
As of the end of 2024, there were 97,984 enterprises and 8,815,146 hives in the beekeeping sector in the country, with 95,492 tonnes of honey produced.
The total number of colonies in the country reached 9 million at the end of last year. Muğla ranked first in the country’s total number of hives with 729,000 hives. It was followed by Ordu with 625,000 hives and Adana with 487,000 hives.
Due to high domestic demand, only 8,657 tonnes of honey were exported from Türkiye last year. Europe and North America were the main destinations for these exports.
Value-added products should be produced…
Beekeeping in Türkiye continues to be an important source of livelihood contributing to the rural economy. Beekeeping also plays a critical role in preserving biodiversity and maintaining ecological balance through pollination activities in agricultural production.
The sector in the country operates using traditional methods as well as modern techniques and scientific approaches. Support provided to the beekeeping sector, training programmes and incentives also contribute to this development.
However, drought and irregular rainfall caused by climate change negatively affect the bees’ food sources and can lead to fluctuations in honey production.
The report also makes various recommendations for the future of the sector, which has been affected by these negative factors.
What is beekeeping tourism?
Bee tourism (api-tourism) combines traditional beekeeping with travel and educational experiences. This field has emerged as a component of the concept of green tourism. This type of tourism includes activities that involve people travelling to the natural environment of bees in order to better understand this culture and lead a healthy lifestyle…
