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Abstract
The study researched the costs and returns on typical small beekeeping farms from five districts in Serbia. On the basis of the field
research, data on the number of beehives, type of product, volume of production per beehive and values per measurement unit were collected. In
order to demonstrate the competitiveness of various agricultural products, analysis of the available data was performed using analytical
calculations. According to the analysis, the labour costs comprise about 49.65%to 64.15%of the variable costs on beekeeping farms in the Raška
and Šumadija districts, respectively. Production is most economical on the bee farm in the district of Srem, where every dinar spent in production
creates a value of 2.22 dinars, while the farm from the district of Raška is the least economical (1.32 din). Bee farms must reduce labour costs
and re-direct their business orientation to other bee products, besides honey, such as pollen, which could be significantly more profitable.