The Association of Exporters of Beekeeping Products of Moldova (AEPAM) and the National Beekeepers Association of the Republic of Moldova (ANARM) ask to unlock the sale of honey by beekeepers that are not registered as business entities. AEPAM president Vasile Dolghieru and ANARM president Ion Maxim sent a public letter to Parliament, the parliamentary commission on agriculture and food industry, the Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment and the National Food Safety Agency, IPN reports.
The letter notes that by discriminating against the beekeepers that are not registered as business entities, the current legislation on beekeeping places obstacles to the sale of honey on the domestic market and to its export and even to the development of the whole beekeeping sector. Given that the new harvest will soon appear, the AEPAM sand ANARM ask for immediate actions on the part of the responsible state institutions.
“The subdivisions of the National Food Safety Agency consider all the apiaries are professional and refuse to register them if the beekeepers are not registered as business entities,” said the authors.
The professional associations consider the activity of beekeepers with up to 150 bee families should be considered non-professional businesses and the beekeepers should only notify the Agency without going through the registration procedure.
According to the National Food Safety Agency, only 20% of the about 8,000 beekeepers working in Moldova are registered as business entities. 80% of the honey made in Moldova is exported to Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Romania, while 20% to the U.S., Israel, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
