MEDİNE MAMEDOĞLU

Colemêrg  – Highlands and mountainous areas of Hakkari are full of beehives. The beekeepers leave their beehives in the areas having many flowers to produce organic honey and the harvest time for honey is in August. The beekeepers sell their organic honey in local and international markets.

Berivan Yardımcı, who is engaged in beekeeping in the Hırmi village of Hakkari’s Yüksekova district, is the only female migratory beekeeper in the region. Graduated from university, Berivan couldn’t find any job so she decided to do her father’s business. She takes care of her beehives for four seasons to make a living.

“Beekeeping is a profession that requires great effort and time”

Berivan grew up among beehives and she has worked as a migratory beekeeper for three years. Berivan, who travels to many cities such as Hatay, Diyarbakır, and Cizre, told us beekeeping is a hard profession. “We are migratory beekeepers. Migratory beekeepers go to the best places for the bees. Raising bees is very difficult. You have to work in four seasons. In the beginning, you think it is very tiring but once you learn this business, you enjoy it. You can achieve something and you are happier when you look at the bees. Spending time with bees is a nice feeling.”

“I want to expand my business”

As the only female beekeeper, Berivan wants to expand her business. “You work hard and you have to spend more time. Doing this business as a woman makes me happy. When you become professional in this business, it becomes more enjoyable. I think of having more bees; I want to expand my business,” Berivan said.

“We don’t receive a recompense for our work”

Berivan spends almost her time with bees but she thinks beekeepers don’t receive a recompense for their work. “We work hard but we don’t receive recompense for our work. Producing organic honey is not easy. We produce organic honey but we have to sell it very cheap. The price of organic honey and inorganic honey is the same.”