Alzane Narrain

Imagine a world without apples, pears, peaches and berries. Reality is, many farmers could stop producing these fruits if bees should disappear. Across the globe the bee population has decreased over the past couple of years, causing farmers to incur more expenses as they need to rent bees for pollination of crops. However, according to Bob Lichtenstein, spokesperson for the Free State Beekeepers Association, South Africa’s bee population is still in tact.

“Production is fully functional and no losses are occurring.”  According to him, beekeepers are not reporting any loses in our region. He predicts that these problems would also not be experienced in the near future. The loss of bees spells economic disaster for farms and the food industry and would lead to a rise in food prices. Since 2006, many beekeepers started reporting that health bees were abandoning their hives in big numbers and never return. This is called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

Some of the causes are fungi, stress and malnutrition.  However, a growing body of research shows that pesticides are the prime culprit.  The trouble stems from one class of pesticides, namely neonicotinoids, known as neonics. This pesticide is also found in home gardening products. Neonics are absorbed by the plants’ vascular systems and then contaminate the pollen and nectar that bees get in touch with. They are a nerve poison that disorient their insect victims and appear to damage the abilities of bees to return to their hives, this might explain this disappearances.

You can help and make the world a healthier place by growing a bee friendly garden, starting a hive, sponsor a hive or support local beekeepers.