Beekeeping in Yemen is dangerous

Yemen’s beekeepers risk air strikes and landmines as they travel the country to produce some of the world’s finest honey

Thimpoverished Arab state, known for its Sidr honey made from the jujube tree, hasendured three years of war that have pushed it to the verge of famine and shatteredthe economy.

„Before the war… we produced large quantities of honey. [BUT NOW] Honey farmers who move their private farms at night sometimes get hit by mistake,“ said Faris al-Howry, who owns one of the main honey stores in the capital Sanaa.

„It’s happened with two or three farmers we know where their farms were bombed [in air strikes].“

A Saudi-led coalition which intervened in 2015 to restore the internationally recognized government has conducted thousands of air strikes in its battle against the Iranian-aligned Houthi movement which controls the most populous areas of Yemen, including Sanaa.

Some air strikes have hit civilian targets, although the coalition denies doing so intentionally. Houthi fighters have also placed landmines in territory under their control.

Yemen exported 50 000 tonnes of honey per year before the war but exports have since fallen by more than 50 percent, according to the Federation of Yemeni Beekepers, which says there are around 100,000 people working in honey farms in Yemen.

Breeders must now be mindful that when they’re trying to move from location to location, they could be targeted or bombed by mistake,“ said Abdullah Abdullah Yareem, head of the Yemeni Organization for Honey and Agriculture Development.

He was speaking at a honey farm in al-Mahwit governorate where men tended to wooden hive boxes as bees flitted between sunflowers in a field. He added it has also become costlier to export honey due to stringentmeasuresimposed on maritime flows by the Saudi-backed coalition, which accuses the Houthis of smuggling Iranian-made weapons, a charge denied by the group and Tehran.

There is only one outlet – to Saudi Arabia, so all exports must flow through there, said Abdullah. „This has created a problem that raised transportation costs making the product reach the consumer at a very high price.“ Howry said business is bad as few people could affordluxuries.

The price of honey in Yemen ranges from $100 for 1 kilo of Sidr to $68 for less premium types. Outside of Yemen the honey sell for around $180 per kilo.

„Sales are down 75 percent… There is no income, no salaries and no spending,“ he said in the store, where boxes of honeycomb are on display on the counter.

REUTERS STAFF

text pochází z agentury Reuters, Zdroj LN

Naučte se gramatiku podle textu

Dnes se podíváme na předložku by, se kterou jsme se setkali ve větě „Yemen exported 50,000 tonnes of honey per year before the war but exports have since fallen by more than 50 percent…“ (Jemen před válkou vyvážel 50 000 tun medu ročně, ale od té doby se vývoz propadl o více než 50 procent…). Tato předložka se do češtiny překládá pomocí slova oa používáme ji, pokud chceme vyjádřit míru, o kterou něco stoupá nebo klesá. Nesmíme ale zapomenout, že ne všude, kam bychom dali předložku v češtině, ji dáme i v angličtině. Takže např. česká věta „Vrátil se o pět minut později“ se do angličtiny přeloží jako „He returned five minutes later“.

eložte:

Ceny jídla stouply o 3 %. Odešli jsme o hodinu později. Zmeškal jsem vlak o pět minut.

SLOVÍČKA

beekeeper včelař

air strike nálet

landmine pozemní mina

impoverished zchudlý

endure zakusit

verge pokraj

famine hladomor

shatter zničit

intervene zasáhnout

restore přivést zpět k moci

conduct vést

populous lidnatý

target cíl

deny popřít

breeder chovatel

hive úl

flit poletovat

stringent přísný

measure opatření

impose uvalit

maritime námořní

smuggle pašovat

weapon zbraň

charge obvinění

income příjem

honeycomb plástev

counter pult

Beekeepers tend to wooden hive boxes in al-Mahwit governorate PHOTO REUTERS

Řešení: Food prices increased by 3%. We left an hour later. I missed my train by 5 minutes.