Bee-keeping has got a long tradition in Temerin. In the olden days, about 80-90 years ago, mainly homestead farmers used to do it.
After WW II, in 1954, the Bee-Keepers’ Association was officially formed.
Today the Temerin-based „Sándor Szigeti” Bee-Keepers’ Association has 50 members, and besides them about 30-40 people do bee-keeping, most of them as a hobby in addition to their regular work.
Our association celebrated the 50th jubilee of its forming on 6 November 2004. The two eldest members, János Nemes (80) and Szilveszter Varga (85) were given an award. János Nemes was also chosen honorary chairman because of being a secretary at the general meeting for so many years. It was him who has written the chronicle of the association about the period from 1954 to 2003.
- The Association is trying to make progress on the professional plane as well as on the field of popularizing bee-keeping. It organizes lectures about different aspects of bee-keeping on a regular basis.
- It informs the consumers with the help of different leaflets about honey as food and medicine.
On the territory of our municipality the main honey-bearing plant is the sunflower, which gives high-quality honey, but is not sufficient in quantity. The bees make up for their annual nourishment from the channel-side. For variety’s sake, some members of our association re-direct their bees to rape, wattle and lime trees.
Previously they also used to grow facelia, borage, mustard and other industrial crops in great amounts, but due to a lack of demand they have stopped with that.
Apart from this fruit is being grown on a vast territory, where the bees have an important role, since the harvest is increased by 15-20 percent through pollinazation.
The association can pay only a minor attention to the health care of the bees, because it lacks the necessary financial means.
The members plant new saplings every year. We mainly plant wattles, of which there are already represented the longer-flowering types from Hungary too. The evodia, a very good honey-bearing species, can be found at many places in our municipality for 20 years. In 2004 and 2005 we planted 260 evodias, and apart from these, we also planted 116 wattle saplings, hazels, acacias, maples, poplars, and other species, too. We have planted several thousand wattle saplings during the previous years.
The members of the association are regular participants at the events organized by the Garden Lovers’ Circle (shows on the occasion of St Elijah’s Day, the pumpkin festival, etc.), where they sell several types of honey and propolis, and thus play an esential role in further popularizing honey among us.
