Company announces research funding of £100,000 into why numbers are falling
Sweet move by producer to stop honey bees buzzing off
Published:
One of Britain's biggest honey producers is to plough £100,000 into research work to try and find out the reasons for increasing health problems in the nation's bees.
Rowse Honey announced the funding yesterday as it expressed concerns that supermarkets may run short of English-produced honey by Christmas.
Its cash will be spent over the next three years on a range of research programmes that will attempt to find long-term solutions to the pests, such as the varroa mite, and diseases, including the parasitic fungus Nosema, that lie behind the dramatic fall in bee numbers and the seemingly mystery illnesses that are responsible for colonies collapsing.
The funding was revealed as the industry's main players – the British Beekeepers Association, the Bee Farmers Association, NFU England and Rowse – met to discuss the situation.
They all agreed on the need to persuade farming ministry Defra to support the industry's own initiatives and for it to invest upwards of £8million in research work over the next five years to boost existing initiatives.
Bees play a vital role in pollinating crops. Their economic worth has been put at £165million annually. But 25% of colonies are thought to have died last winter.
The poor weather assisted the varroa to multiply and has over the summer prevented bees from foraging, which has led to a shortage of runny honey preferred by supermarkets.
Rowse Honey chairman Stuart Bailey said: “We eat 30,000 tonnes of honey a year in this country. Now, the problem is that the British beekeepers can only produce 3-5,000 tonnes of honey in a typical year. Last year was 3,000 tonnes – a sunny April followed by a long wet summer."
NFU England warned the impact of any further decline in bee numbers could be significant, both on the environment and on agricultural output.
The plea for more government support comes after a long-running row between beekeepers and Defra over its apparent lack of commitment to the sector. Defra has strenuously denied the claims and earlier this year said it would reprioritise bee inspections. Similar calls for increased funding have been made to the Scottish Government.
Britain has more than 44,000 beekeepers who between them have an estimated 274,000 hives. There are about 300 commercial beekeepers with 50,000 hives.
