World Bee Day: honey production -80% due to abnormal weather

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The anomalous cold out of season after the long drought affects the beehives and cuts the honey crops in spring with a loss of production in the months of April and May 2023 of up to 80% compared to last season. This is what emerges from the analysis by Coldiretti on the occasion of World Bee Day.

The honey harvest in the nearly 45,000 beehives in Romagna cared for by about 1,800 beekeepers has been practically eliminated, the association writes. «The rain and wind storms and the drop in temperatures in various parts of Italy prevented the bees from flying and damaged the flowers, causing production to collapse after – underlines Coldiretti – in 2022 23 million bees were collected nationwide kilos of honey thanks to 1.5 million beehives cared for by around 73,000 beekeepers from Lombardy to Puglia, from Emilia Romagna to Tuscany and Campania».

«In practice, already last year Italy – continues Coldiretti – said goodbye to almost 1 jar of honey out of 4 (23%) compared to just over a decade ago. The difficulties of bees are a serious danger for biodiversity considering that domestic and wild bees are responsible for 70% of the reproduction of all plant species, are an indicator of the state of health of the environment and serve the work of farmers with the pollination of flowers. In fact – continues the association – as many as 3 out of 4 food crops depend to a certain extent on yield and quality from pollination by bees, among these there are apples, pears, strawberries, cherries, watermelons and melons according to the FAO”.

The drop in production has made room for imports from abroad which in 2022 grew by +12% for a quantity of over 26.5 million kilos, also coming from countries that do not always shine for transparency and food safety. It is no coincidence, in fact, that – underlines Coldiretti – among the samples of honey imported into the EU between 2021 and 2022, almost 1 in 2 (46%) is suspected of adulteration, according to the ‘From the hives’ survey of the Centro Joint Research (Ccr) of the European Commission.

The highest absolute number is recorded by China (74%), with Turkey having the highest relative proportion of suspect samples (93%) while the UK recorded an even higher rate of dubious samples (100%), probably because it is honey produced in other countries and further mixed before being sent back to Europe. A worrying scenario in which – underlines Coldiretti – Italy imported over 26.5 million kilos of honey from abroad in 2022, with arrivals from Turkey up by +146%, from China by +66%, from Romania by +134% and from Ukraine +83%.