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By Kim Rahn
Seoul City's urban beekeeping will be introduced at the Terra Madres Salone del Gusto, a slow food festival that will be held in Turin, Italy, from Thursday to Monday, according to the city government, Tuesday.
In a forum theme "City Bees — A Look at Urban Beekeeping" on Saturday, Park Jin, head of social venture company Urban Bees Seoul, will give a presentation on the development of the city's beekeeping, various honey products and other products made of royal jelly, pollen and beeswax, to beekeepers and researchers from around the world.
Seoul's urban beekeeping started in May 2012 with five boxes of beehives on the rooftop of the city government's annex building. It has grown more than 60-fold to 285 boxes — 200 managed by the city government and district offices and 85 managed privately.
This year, more than 2,360 liters of honey has been produced from the boxes, worth around 150 million won ($133,480).
"Beekeeping is the yardstick of a city's ecosystem, because a growing number of bees mean increasing chances of blossoming and fruiting, and thus a larger number of insects and small birds," a city official said.
"We expect participants of the festival to share their beekeeping experiences and improving the urban environment through it, for the expansion and development of urban beekeeping," the official said. "It will also help Seoul get ideas on how to further expand beekeeping."
The city government provides education and training programs about raising bees, collecting honey and making products using honey.
