Socio-economic analysis of chestnut honey producers: Case of Doğanyurt, Kastamonu

Chestnut tree(Castanea sativa mill.) for thousands of years was a primary source of nutrition in the mountainous areas of the Mediterranean where grains did not grow well. Chestnut is very common in Europe, belongs to the same family as beeches and oaks and it was introduced from Turkey to the Europe. Chestnut honey is preferred because of its strong aromatic taste together with rich in pollen content, mineral salts and tannin. Turkey is one of the best area to do bee-keeping because of the geography, climate, and the diversity of flora and fauna. Other than this bee-keeping is very important to protect biodiversity and pass that to next generations, also to providing and enhancing the diversity of food security. Bee-keeping is traditional and socio-economic activity which is performed in whole Anatolia and has a place in our culture. There are more than 83.000 families which has 7.7 million colony in Turkey. We can say that bee-keeping contributes to Turkish economy around 25-30 billion TL by not only with bee products but also pollination. In this study, ORKOY branch office distributed beehives in order to support and develop forest villagers in economic and socio-economic ways; by protecting, improving and enlarging forests. We have conducted face to face surveys with 80 participants which benefited from bee-keeping support. Analyzing the socio-economic effects and welfare improvement of local people by bee-keeping and producing of bee poducts are done in the chestnut areas (3267 ha) of Doğanyurt, Kastamonu.