The research report ‘Vision Beekeeping and Insect Pollination’ (in Dutch) was handed to minister Verburg of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality by Wageningen UR scientists. The leader of the study, Dr. Tjeerd Blacquière, used this occasion to stress the fact that beekeeping in the Netherlands is under threat and that a catch-up effort is required that takes account of the large economic significance of beekeeping and the size and complexity of the difficulties. Problem is the sharp contrast between the great importance of beekeeping for the Dutch economy and the limited financial scope of the sector itself.
The Wageningen UR scientists have upon request of the Ministry of LNV analysed Dutch beekeeping and pollination by honeybees and other insects. In their report they state that the man-kept honeybee in the Netherlands is threatened in its existence.
The scientists mention three reasons clearly indicating that the beekeeping problems are not caused by ‘natural’ fluctuation and will thus neither disappear ‘automatically’. |
Minister Verburg not only receives the research report but a beekeeper’s suit and an invitation to visit the bees as well.
From left to right.: Minister Gerda Verburg, scientists Tjeerd Blacquière, Sjef van der Steen and Bram Cornelissen from Bees@wur. |
Firstly, the number of years with bee mortality is increasing. Good and experienced beekeepers are in recent years also facing mortality. And the disease symptoms observed in dead hives are changing.
1 billion euro
Dutch beekeepers together have 40.000 to 80.000 bee hives spread over the country. With their hives they take care of the pollination of all sorts of vegetables, fruit and seed crops. The annual total value for the Dutch economy is estimated at 1 billion euro.
The income of the beekeepers for this service is very low. And the economic yield of the honey is also negligible in comparison with the contribution honeybees make to agriculture and horticulture.
Biodiversity
The honeybee is also very valuable for nature in the Netherlands. About 15% of the wild plants is pollinated by honeybees. Part of these plants mainly depend on honeybees for seed formation and thus for their survival. These, however, are nowadays hardly occurring in nature. This makes man-kept bees crucial for biodiversity in nature.
The low own income means that Dutch beekeeping itself has no funds for conducting research into solutions to counteract the threat of the honeybee. At the same time, the lack of financial means also affects the intrinsic quality of beekeeping: there is insufficient money for training new beekeepers and for the further professionalisation of the beekeepers.
'Master plan'
The scientists therefore plead for making available means from outside beekeeping to counteract threats and they especially advise the minister to focus on strengthening beekeeping education and research. In addition, a broadly based ‘master plan’ would have to be prepared to protect pollinating insects (honeybees ánd other insects) and their habitat.