Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This page may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended. There is no additional cost to you whatsoever.
Isgandar Shiralizada’s ardour for all issues associated to bees and honey started as a baby at his household dwelling in Bilasuvar, a city within the southern area of Azerbaijan. His mom made a scrumptious number of honey-based desserts, particularly the favored, native candy pakhlava, with its honey-soaked layers. These delectables sparked Isgandar’s curiosity concerning the creatures that produced the honey.
“Every spoonful of honey was a thriller to me, making me surprise concerning the bees and their world,” he remembers.
Isgandar fondly remembers when each winter, his mom would purchase three kilograms of honey from a neighbor, and he would inform her, “One day, I’ll maintain bees, and we could have our personal honey.”
This childhood dream set the muse for his future within the honey sector.
Starting in his early twenties, Isgandar and his mom invested of their first bee colony. This modest begin steadily expanded, with each his beehives and abilities rising 12 months by 12 months.
He obtained mentoring by Hikmat Aliyev, a famend beekeeper on this space of Azerbaijan, who taught him the artwork and the hidden secrets and techniques of beekeeping. He additionally attended a number of coaching programs within the nation and overseas. In Türkiye, Isgandar joined native beekeepers for periods on market entry and the formation of cooperatives, and there he additionally gained sensible expertise in modern beekeeping methods.
Isgandar’s profession really flourished after he joined a course supplied by the UN’s FAO, funded by the Government of Azerbaijan. This initiative, a part of the “Increasing Youth Employment in Agriculture” venture, equips younger women and men in rural areas with the talents essential for careers in agriculture, specializing in agribusiness and entrepreneurship improvement.
In a rustic the place over 1 / 4 of the inhabitants is aged between 14 and 29, youth employment presents a serious problem in rural areas. Agriculture is an important sector for Azerbaijan, using 36.3 p.c of the workforce and offering vital family revenue in rural areas.
One of the key causes for youth unemployment in rural areas is proscribed schooling or skilled abilities, coupled with restricted entry to entrepreneurship alternatives and companies.
“Enhancing employment for rural youth and ladies by means of coaching and agricultural help is significant in Azerbaijan, serving to to fight intergenerational poverty and selling social and gender inclusion,” stated Nasar Hayat, an FAO Representative in Azerbaijan.
For Isgandar, FAO’s help was a catalyst that remodeled him from an area beekeeper into an innovator within the area.
He devised the “Smart Bee Houses” that he introduced at TechnoFest, a prestigious expertise pageant held in Türkiye. These bee homes are modern units which might be designed to fight bee illnesses and optimize honey manufacturing. Through sensors positioned contained in the bee home, beekeepers can monitor for varroa mites, humidity and hive weight by means of an utility that alerts them of points with out the necessity for bodily intervention, setting a brand new commonplace in beekeeping practices.
The FAO venture additionally geared up Isgandar with important agricultural instruments to boost his enterprise, together with a water tank and pump to make sure a gradual water provide for his bee gardens. This setup contributed to the well being of his gardens, considerably bettering each the standard and amount of his honey manufacturing.
With the elevated earnings, Isgandar expanded his variety of beehives to 60.
“Before the venture, I might solely produce as much as one ton of honey every year, however now, my manufacturing has doubled to 2 tons yearly,” Isgandar proudly shared.
With the backing from FAO, he has not solely grow to be economically unbiased, however in flip, FAO present in Isgandar the proper ambassador to interact youth and share his ardour for beekeeping with the following generations.
With a wealth of worldwide expertise, Isgandar wished to show others what he discovered.
“I wish to grow to be a mentor; I can’t maintain this all to myself,” he exclaims.
He discovered a chance to share his information by means of a beekeeping coaching programme on the Bilasuvar Vocational Lyceum.
Isgandar at the moment offers a course for aspiring younger beekeepers, the place he imparts all the pieces from the necessities of beekeeping to using modern applied sciences to fight bee illnesses.
“The pleasure of younger individuals about beekeeping makes me actually completely happy, and I see it as my job to assist them love and admire this work,” Isgandar says.
“Every day I’m equipping college students with very important abilities, getting ready them to be the following era of beekeepers who can contribute to enhancing the agricultural sector in Azerbaijan,” shares Isgandar, who sees huge potential in his nation and is dedicated to making sure that younger individuals see it too.
After educating, he spends time at his farm checking on his bees or aiding different beekeepers within the space with their hives.
Isgandar sees his personal youngsters’s enthusiasm for apiculture as proof of its enchantment as a profession for youth.
“My daughter Asmanur and my son Ismail love bees and bee merchandise. They get excited each time I placed on my protecting go well with,” he says. Though at age two and three, they’re too younger to affix him now, their curiosity is simple. “They all the time ask after they can include me to the apiary. Especially my daughter, she’s actually keen to start out.”
Isgandar believes introducing younger individuals to beekeeping not solely connects them with nature but in addition opens the door to sustainable and worthwhile profession alternatives.
For bold younger people, like Isgandar’s youngsters and college students, the beekeeping sector gives a viable and rewarding profession in a area ripe for innovation and progress.
