Due to the worsening environmental conditions in recent years, the irresponsible use of agrochemicals, and deforestation, hundreds of thousands of bees have been killed, which is causing Yucatecan beekeepers to go through a critical moment.
The beekeeper and president of the association “Miel Nativa Kaban”, Mario Navarro Meneses, assured that 2024 has been a difficult year, since “beekeepers have had to rescue hives due to drought or torrential rains.”
He explained that the extreme heat melted hives and the rains flooded them “so we are reporting losses and we are approaching a collapse in the price of honey in the final quarter of the year.”
He warned that climate change also affects beekeepers in Campeche and Quintana Roo, so this year the sector finds it very difficult to reverse its effects in extreme weather conditions.
Navarro Meneses pointed out that bee farming in Yucatan is going through a critical moment because “this year hundreds of hives were lost due to extreme heat and recently due to the unregulated use of pesticides in the fields and crops.”
He warned that “the bee is vital for the Yucatan ecosystem and if the necessary measures are not taken for its conservation, this species of bee will disappear in less than five years.”
He indicated that this year hundreds of thousands of bees have died in their apiaries, mainly those located near corn crops in the east of the state, where they use herbicides.
The local coordinator of the National Beekeeping Alliance, Arturo Carrillo, denounced that, in the east of Yucatan, honey producers suffer damage from aerial spraying of agrochemicals that are killing bees.
He stated that the practice carried out by cattle ranchers in eastern Yucatan is killing bees, due to the use of overly potent pesticides, which also contaminate agricultural products.
He highlighted that between mid-2023 and the first half of 2024, beekeepers in Tizimín lost some 600 hives, which represents losses of around 4 million pesos.
“Given this serious situation, the authorities must implement strategies that preserve apis bees and endemic bees, such as the Melipona Bee; we need public policies to protect the natural habitat of pollinators, especially bees,” he concluded.
TYT Newsroom
