Minister of Agriculture Ignati Arakelyan has proposed producing wine, champagne and gin from honey in Armenia, a statement issued by the Ministry said.

Arakelyan on Thursday, December 1 met with a group of Armenian beekeepers to discuss the problems in the field and their possible solutions.

Dwelling upon priority issues, the beekeepers singled out the necessity to diversify bee products.

On learning that research has been carried out in this field, the Minister proposed studying the opportunity to organize production of various bee products, including wine from honey, otherwise called mead, as well as gin and champagne, also made from honey.

Stressing the importance of launching propolis mass production, the beekeepers said the lack of equipment hinders the realization of the idea. The Minister said a business plan must be developed for attracting financial resources with the help of international organizations.

Also, the experts suggested that issues of preparing specialists and organizing trainings for scientists be discussed with the Armenian National Agrarian University.

In addition, problems concerning the development of honey bee breeding, discovery of new markets for selling the Armenian honey, the increase of bee products manufacture, as well as the cost price reduction were in the limelight of the meeting.