Beekeepers in Yucatán are facing three factors that have led to a more than 50 percent decline in profits: pollution of beehives, the removal of organic product certifications, and the emergence of “fake” honey from China that is being passed off as real in the international market.
Fernando Rojas Lagunes, president of the Yucatán State Beekeepers Association, stated that since March, beekeepers in the western part of the state, located in Maxcanú and Halachó, lost a certification that validated their honey as organic and free from agrochemicals. This was due to the use of fumigating agents in the crops in the area and the discharge of wastewater with contaminants from the farms installed in the region.
He explained that bees have a foraging radius of two to three kilometers from their beehive, so when they venture out in search of pollen, worker bees come into contact with plants that have been sprayed with pesticides or they hydrate in ponds generated near the farms. This fills their legs and abdominal filaments with contaminants.
The bees do not die immediately but continue their work and return to the hive with the collected pollen. However, at that moment, their contaminated legs affect the product they have been working on for several weeks. This multiplies with the number of bees in a hive and increases the level of contamination.
“All of that ends up in the honey because they step on it, come into contact with larvae, as well as other bees, and eventually it kills a colony while also reducing the quality of the product,” he explained.
This situation has led customers in international markets such as Germany, Italy, and France to refuse to buy Yucatecan honey and opt to form alliances with apiaries that do have organic product certification.
“Germany buys a kilogram of pure honey for 17 euros (317.68 pesos), but because of this, we have had to shift our focus to the United States, which is not as demanding when it comes to certifications but pays less for the product, approximately between 8 and 9 dollars (154.12 pesos),” he added.
Rojas Lagunes pointed out that according to the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, Yucatán has historically been the leading honey producer in the country, followed by Campeche and Jalisco. Hence the importance of finding a solution to the use of agrochemicals and water pollution.
“Regardless of where we take our market, what we want is to have a clean product, free from contamination because no one wants to consume a product that has residues of agrochemicals,” he emphasized.
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