rampant demand of honey based organic products and dire need of pollination influencing the growth of apiculture market demand

The global apiculture market is witnessing a paradigm shift with the integration of cutting-edge technology such as IoT due to increasing voluminous operations mandating data-driven insights. Although the traditional beekeeping principles are efficient and active, integration of traditional approaches with modern technology is delivering better results. Some examples of apiary management software and applications available on android and iOS are Hive Tracks developed by Hive Tracks and Appiarium LLC, American Bee Journal developed by Dadant and Sons Inc., BeeRM developed by MyBeeLine and Beekeeping Pro developed by Geek Zeek Apps.As the bees are primarily reared for honey, by-product such as beeswax has also found the tremendous scope of commercial and mainstream significance in various end-user verticals including rampantly expanding cosmetic industry and pharmaceutical sector. Along with these applications, beeswax is also functional as cheese coatings and food additive. Acute analysis of the application segment states the flourishing and imperative ‘agriculture sector’ in dire need of pollination and hence is recognized as the prime area of apiculture application. Similarly, by-products type apiculture market consists of honey, beeswax, and live bees, with honey dominating the entire market and beeswax gaining profound traction and application growth rate. Moreover, to counter the declining bee population that can negatively impact the environmentally requisite global apiculture market, European Union’s Horizon 2020 has sponsored developments and projects such as BeeDanceGap, MicroBeeOmeand Hyperthermia in Apiculture (HApi). The global apiculture market size was evaluated to be $9 billion as of 2018 and with rise in demand of organic products positively influencing global productivity of honey, opportunities in the market is progressing at a global CAGR of 2.6% during the forecast period of 2018-2023.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), out of the 1,400 flora cultivated across the globe that constitutes food products and plant-based industrial products, nearly 80% (1120 crop plants)are dependent on pollination. Since bees are the most pivotal pollinators, apiculture market is leveraging the dire need of pollination in the agricultural sector.USDA states that the value of pollinated agricultural crops in the U.S is valued to be $10 billion whereas global pollination services are evaluated to be $3 trillion per annum. 

Similarly, as indicated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, global population will mount to an astounding 9.1 billion figure by 2050 observing anupsurge of 34%. And to feed these 9 billion mouths, agricultural expenditures in emerging economies would amount to $83 billion per annum.  To counter such exceptional food production demand amalgamated with depleting arable land, efficient and mechanized agriculture processes are the main objectives and pollination is an effective tool to meet them.

Gradually decreasing number of the most pivotal pollinator, bee, is a threat to the global food supply. Hence, to counter such an alarming situation, integration of IoT with apiculture is a major trend disrupting the market. IoT equipped with sensors and monitoring systems enables digital measurements such as temperature, humidity, audio and video that can be utilized to identify numerous conditions of a bee colony that includesbroodless stage, swarming, brood rearing, and illness. Integration of IoT will facilitate precision in apiculture to garner more understanding into catastrophe such as ‘Colony Collapse Disorder’ with undetected causes, in direction to counter it.

Some examples of IoT based application and software are-

SolutionBee LLC: SoultionBee provides physical sensors integrated with monitor systems to keep a track on hives. It’s able to collect and store data such as weight and temperature on a preset schedule. SoultionBee then sends this data on a smartphone or a tablet to generate real-time reports and aid the beekeeper in tracking progress. In addition, this system also triggers alarmin cases of unusual activities.

Beetight: Beetight is a free app for beekeepers. It’s capable of interfacing with all hive types and enables the beekeeper to view hive details at a glance. Beetight provides a place for beekeepers to quickly record information about inspections, treatments, feeding, harvest, and bee temperament.

Hive Tracks: Hive Tracks amalgamated with Google maps equips the beekeeper to keep a pin of the location of particular hives. It also depicts the environment encountered by bees within a radius of few miles to control the settings with desired preference. The original value of the software is in logging inspection dates and notes, tracking harvests and other important data.          

Honey industry is the vital outcome of apiculture as it configured more than 90% of the market in terms of value in 2018. After further analysis of the revenue generated by various apiculture products including honey, beeswax, and live bees, honey was the predominant segment with market revenue of $8.1 billion in the same year. Increasing health awareness among individuals is a major factor disrupting the application of honey as natural sweeteners in the bourgeoning F&B sector. As it adds viscosity to liquid, honey is applied in alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. Similarly, honey is very effectively leveraging the organic front adopted by the global cosmetic industry with its application as humectant, which is estimated to be the fastest-growing application segment for honeyprogressing with a CAGR of 3.5% going through 2025. Also, constituted of phytochemicals along with other ingredients such asorganic acids, vitamins and enzymes, application of honey as dietary antioxidants in medical sector is in upward direction. With bioactive properties, honey is also employed in honey based bioactive dressing used in wound and healing.

Some of the key players operating in the global apiculture market are BetterBee Inc., Bartnik LLC., Beehive Botanicals, Inc., Seldom Fools Apiculture, Miller’s Honey Company, Dabur India Limited, Arnold Honeybee Services and Honeybee Enterprises LTD.

As there is strong threat from local players in this market since the traditional technology is fairly feasible to replicate, key players are merging with local vendors to carve a niche for themselves. For instance, Dabur India Ltd., in India merged with rural bee hunters, trained and transformed them into professional beekeepers to leverage rural production. In the state of Bihar, India, Dabur distributed 3000 beehives equally among 300 rural families trained 640 villagers about Beekeeping.

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