Beekeepers from Struga, Prilep, Bitola, Strumica and Kicevo with their products participate in the 5th Honey Fair held this weekend in Struga organized by the Association of Beekeepers "Matica", with the support of the Municipality of Struga and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy .

The President of the Association of Beekeepers "Matica" from Struga Shefit Shemshedini believes that the fairs are an excellent opportunity for communication between beekeepers, exchange of experiences, promotion of their products, but also introducing citizens to quality honey, bee products and their benefits. .

- The beekeepers are satisfied, but also the visitors. People know that quality honey is offered. They buy in larger quantities or after a few days they call and say that they were wrong because they did not buy more, says Shemshedini, who owns 80 bee families, which he raises in a clean ecological environment in Struga.

Although the presence of beekeepers from neighboring Serbia and Albania was announced, they did not attend this year either. The reason for that, according to Shemshedini, is the border controls and non-compliance with customs rules.

- Beekeepers from Serbia and Albania returned from the border. They are asked to write down all the material that will enter the country and return it, explained the organizer of the Fair.

Regarding the unfair competition, he noted that the institutions should be more careful and not allow the import and sale of honey with glucose and sugar. According to him, a jar of honey sold for 280 denars can not be of good quality.

- To buy quality honey you need to have an analysis or know the person who makes it, underlined Shemshedini, emphasizing that visitors have the opportunity to buy other bee products at the fair besides honey: royal jelly, propolis, as well as beekeeping literature and beekeeping.

The President of the Association of Beekeeping Associations of Macedonia, Mende Trajkovski, who is a beekeeper from the Bitola part of Mariovo, participates in the fair every year.

- The purpose of the fairs is to increase the consumption of honey and other bee products. I think that the population for consumption of bee products is succeeding and increasing to a large extent, said Trajkovski, who offers honey, propolis, pollen, wax, honey in the pie, mixtures of bee products on his stand…

Speaking about the quality of honey, he noted that citizens recognize and increasingly seek organic certified products.

- There is unfair competition and it is a big problem for us. As an Alliance, we often urge inspections to conduct more frequent inspections. I think that there is some success in that part as well. In the future I expect more with the new food regulations, where conditions are more stringent. It is not possible for a beekeeper to sell 500 kilograms of honey and sell 1.500. Unfair competition must be kept to a minimum, underlined Trajkovski.

Struga residents and tourists visit the fair and buy honey and bee products primarily because of the guaranteed quality. They say that they do not believe much in poisons and usually buy honey from celebrities or from fairs where they believe that quality is offered.