Bee Week celebrates the productive and essential bee
Bee Week, 4-8 May, kicks off with a function in Parliament’s own “Beehive” on 5 May to highlight the value of bees and beekeeping in New Zealand.
Bee Week’s aim to promote awareness of the importance of bees to the rural sector and the national economy, to which bees contribute an estimated $12 billion annually, appears somewhat futile in the light of the bee’s present struggle with the varroa mite and falling population.
The bee’s role reaches far beyond honey production. Roughly one third of all food consumed is pollinated by bees, and many crops are not viable without them. Due to the varroa outbreak, the costs of having hives on horticultural and farm properties have risen from $75 to $150 per hive, and the number of beekeepers has declined dramatically.
The varroa mite, first found in New Zealand in 2000, feeds on live bee larvae, and if left untreated, infected hives become unviable and die out. There are already too few bees to adequately pollinate many crops.
John Hartnell, Federated Farmers’ bee industry group spokesman, said many New Zealanders were unaware of the crucial role bees had played in pastoral farming and horticulture over the past 150 years, and that a major campaign is necessary to ensure that everything is done to create environments where bee populations can thrive.
“Bees are always at risk from chemicals sprayed on trees, crops and pasture where bees are foraging. Bees can even be drowned by some irrigation systems. Farmers need to have a better understanding of the lifecycle and needs of bees and to work more closely with beekeepers. Bees are a threatened population, yet research clearly shows that more hives will be required in the future to meet increased demands for food production,” Mr Hartnell said.
Despite bans on the movement of hives, varroa spread to the South Island in June 2006 and to Golden Bay over a year ago, introduced by beekeepers from the Motueka area. During 2008 all containment activities lapsed and the mite is now spreading nationwide. Most beekeepers have resorted to treating their hives with costly chemicals, and the status of many organic beekeepers is under threat as organic treatments prove inadequate.
Heaphy Honey beekeeper Nancy-Jean Bell said the struggle to keep the bees alive with organic treatment was “really hard and depressing, but we will keep going.
“We work so hard to keep the bees alive, and it’s a real struggle for the bees too. With chemical treatment the bees will survive, but there are no more organic beekeepers on the North Island. It is inexcusable of the Government to let varroa go like this. This is affecting everything and everybody in the whole country. I have talked to people in the North Island who have not seen any bees around their house this summer, and who hadn’t a single apple on their trees.”
New Zealand bee products have gained a worldwide reputation for quality. Around 12,375 tonnes of honey are produced annually. Almost half of it is exported, amounting to some $71 million, including $4 million of premium organic honey. Manuka honey, with renowned antiseptic properties, is particularly sought after for use in products such as wound dressings and for the healing of stomach ulcers. Its value has soared in recent years.
Currently, about 2,600 New Zealanders keep bees, with the 287 biggest beekeepers managing 96 per cent of registered hives. The awareness week is supported by organisations that have a sustained interest in the long-term survival of the insect—the National Beekeepers Association of New Zealand, Horticulture New Zealand, Organics Aotearoa New Zealand and Plant and Food Research.
Ina Holst
