The alarm of beekeepers: without immediate aid they risk closing many companies, it would be a serious damage for everyone
UDINE. Thursday 20 May will be world bee day, but in Friuli this year, as in all of northern Italy, there is very little to celebrate.
The so far cold and rainy spring, with night frosts in early April, has compromised much of the work of the precious insects. So much so that beekeepers – there are about 1,200 in the region, but the most structured companies reach about fifty – speak of zero production. A situation that has prompted the main trade associations to ask for a meeting in the Region.
“On Friday in Udine we will talk with the Councilor for Agriculture Zannier – say Claudio Comaro, owner of one of the most famous and important companies, with 150 years of family activity behind him and Alessandro Manzano, president of the Association for the Carnic bee that groups a hundred employees -, we need help now, otherwise many of us will raise the white flag and close everything.
Frosts and sub-average temperatures, especially between March and April, put the blooms in jeopardy. And so now we find ourselves with zero production of dandelion, cherry, maple, rapeseed and yarrow honey.
Now we see the flowering of the acacia, but even in this case we are holding our breath because the conditions are not good. We want to make the competent authorities aware of the difficulties of the sector. Unfortunately, the vintages 2017, 2018 and 2019 had already gone badly, 2020 was an exception, with a satisfactory production. Now we are back with our heads under water, in serious suffering, the hives are empty ».
For beekeepers, indeed, there is not only the damage of the lack of honey production, but also the “mockery” of feeding bees, which costs huge sums of money. «If the insects cannot feed themselves – adds Comaro – we must provide, otherwise we risk that entire families, in the hives, will die. Apart from some small financial recognition, we have never yet obtained the resources to be able to move forward. Our work does not only concern the economic activity of each of us, but involves the whole of society. If we get one from the care of the bees, the remaining 99 is for the benefit of the community in terms of the environment, of vegetables and fruit grown, which man eats. If the bees disappear, there will be nothing left for anyone ».
«In Artegna we have an apiary with 13 hives that we use to monitor the overall situation – explains Manzano -. And as proof that the situation this year is particularly delicate, for the first time the bee families have contracted, many specimens are dying.
Depopulation is another major concern. Our sector also needs structural measures to resolve open issues, otherwise we will be here every time to ask for help, but we do not go far with buffer measures ».
The changed climate and the substances that are used in agriculture have drastically reduced the production of honey. «In the Eighties and Nineties – Comaro says – 30, 40 kilos of product were obtained from each hive, with honeydew (a very particular and precious substance that, instead of being produced from nectars, is collected from the leaves of trees) up to 60 kilos. Today for each hive (in Friuli there are about 36 thousand) we are between 12 and 14 kilos. In 2019 the bottom was reached with 11.3 kilos, but this year, if it goes on like this, we will update the negative record ».
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