Pavel KONOVALOV:

“Innovations for the development

of beekeeping in Kazakhstan!”

Pavel Pavlovich Konovalov, who devoted all his life to martial art, dramatically changed his destiny: over five years he became one of the largest honey producers in Kazakhstan. Today he is a member of the National Union of Beekeepers of the Republic of Kazakhstan "Bal-Ara", the head of the company “На100%ящий мед”. How did he do it?

PIn 2008, my wife Elena and I moved to live in the mountains, away from the city, closer to nature. We live relatively far from the so-called civilization: mountains, clean air, mountain water from the glaciers within a huge variety of flora and fauna of the Ile Alatau National Natural Park surround us.

As a result of a unique combination of circumstances, we acquired 5 bee colonies as a future hobby. Having no idea how to do this business, we asked the beekeeper who sold us the first five bee colonies to assist us in doing this new business as far as he could.

Really, his help was priceless .And we began to call our instructor as Teacher. A lot of useful and unique information was received from him during the time when he was our Mentor.

Everything was fine: the first queen bees brought out by our own hands, we reproduced the first new bees, honey and pollen. The main thing is an instant sale of all products to our friends and colleagues. It was so great. The decision to expand the apiary came to us somewhat easily and immediately. Our teacher’s reaction was unexpected. He categorically stated that the expansion is not possible. It is difficult, costly and without the experience, running the apiary of 50 hives is unaffordable business, while plans also included an apiary in 200 hives.

To be honest, we had the impression that this is not entirely correct. In the age of new technologies, beekeepers utilize high-end methods. So to say “Google” to help the doubter! The information gathered from the beekeeping forums further inspired us for our conjectures. There are many new and interesting ways to work with a bee. Since this moment, and this was autumn 2012, most of the time was spent studying the best experience of beekeeping, which was written on the Internet.

Hardly having waited for the first spring warm days we began to put in practice those innovations about which we learned. The result was not long in coming. By the autumn of 2013, we had an apiary of 250 hives our own production line of wax, a small queen bee-breeding farm. We developed our own brand. We bought a vehicle to deliver products across the city. We registered our own website and arranged an online trade, opened several branded outlets for the sale of honey and bee products. We expanded the range of manufactured goods. We launched a production line of gift and souvenir products.

There was a feeling that we were missing something. The market demanded an increase in sales, there was not enough products. To extend the apiary, some new qualitatively different technologies of beekeeping were required. We made a decision and everything we needed to increase the beekeeping industry ourselves. They opened a shop for the production of hive containers, began to make beehive frames, concluded a number of contracts with manufacturers of veterinary devices for beekeeping. The apiary extended by another hundred bee families, but there was no qualitative leap.

Friendship with Sergey Tereshchenko the head of the National Union of Beekeepers of Kazakhstan BalAra was the starting point from which the real growth of the company began in both quantitative and qualitative terms. He offered to go on training for intensive methods of beekeeping in Israel. Within two months, we greedily listened to the information from our Israeli colleagues, about how they serve from 5,000 to 7,000 beekeeping families with a team of 3-4 people. Moreover, the simplicity of the methods simply amazed! We put all pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together. There was unlimited joy, we found what we were looking for. Returning at the end of winter from Israel, we started materializing our idea. There were more than 1,000 beekeeping households by the autumn. We set up our own trading team, purchased commercial vehicles and established a distribution networks with trading networks.

As the saying goes: the appetite comes with eating. We decided not to rest on our laurels. The goals set by Sergei Tereshchenko to increase the production of Kazakhstan honey up to 1 million tons of honey, required new solutions and efforts. Where can you learn about new technologies and methods for solving these problems? The solution is simple. It is to attend European and world congresses of beekeepers. There is a pulse of new technologies in the industry. After our first trip to the World Congress held in South Korea, we met many famous beekeepers of the world, extended our product line. Our participation in the European Congress brought us the first serious recognition. Our polyflorous honey “Motley grasses” won the Gold Medal in the Congress. The result of this event was three medals of different dignity in the piggy bank of our company.

The World Congress in Istanbul is yet another big step forward. A trip to Ukraine in the autumn of 2017 “blew up” our brains. We have seen something we have always been seeking and what Sergey Tereshchenko was telling told us about. We saw an industrial apiary of several thousand bee colonies and an organized honey-fodder conveyor linking plant growing, livestock production and beekeeping. This bunch gives us an amazing result. In addition, it is beneficial for all the participants in this alliance. All is connected. Plant growers receive an increase in yield up to 60% due to pollination, livestock yield by increasing the quantity and quality of feeds, beekeepers are guaranteed to receive a large number of products regardless of natural conditions, as is the case with “wild plants”, while for production workers there is an increase in the amount of products processing produced by all sides of production.

The main thing is that the notion of the need for cooperation, the need for plant pollination to increase yields in crop and plants production, and as a consequence there is an increase in the production of meat and milk.The chain of understanding finally closed. Today we set ourselves the purpose of creating an industrial honey fodder conveyor, on the territory of the Almaty region. Sergei Alexandrovich the President of the National Union of Beekeepers of Kazakhstan BalAra Tereshchenko renders confidence in the project personally.