Viable and healthy hives needed to create enough bees

More than 50 agricultural crops pollinated by honey bees contribute to more than R10.3 billion to the country’s economy, with farmers in Western Cape’s Overberg region emerging as biodiversity champions, according to global conservation organisation World Wildlife Fund (WWF) South Africa.

Caring for bees supported SA’s food security, said the WWF in its latest report.

It said viable and healthy hives were needed to create enough bees for “enough bees to pollinate crops and make honey”.

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Ensuring the survival of bees

WWF recommendations included:

• A call for the provision of sufficient and constant source of forage for honey bees; and

• Managing threats to bees’ survival, which included not spraying insecticide – especially when crops are flowering, with the insects active.

“Declining honey bee population and a shortage of beehives mean poor pollination of crops, translating into poor harvests, fewer food choices, less food and job security – more threats in the agricultural industry,” the report said.

“South Africa imports more honey than it produces.

“Increasing the honey bee population will create more opportunities to grow the local honey industry.”

Speaking to The Citizen in Grabouw’s Elgin Valley during a media visit of the Overberg region, WWF environmental expert Shelly Fuller said the area produced 80% of the country’s apples and pears and is also a global biodiversity hotspot.

“In these orchards, we are exploring the role of the Cape honey bees busy pollinating the orchards,” said Fuller.

“We are also looking at the role farmers can play to bring biodiversity back. We are blessed to have biodiversity.”

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People need to understand the value of nature

While South Africa was regarded as “one of the global biodiversity hotspots”, the country experienced challenges.

The challenge, she said, was “that of connecting people with nature, so that we are able to understand the role nature plays and our role as society, in making sure that nature provides those services for us”.

“Among the threats to biodiversity is land use – how we use the land, with climate change being a big threat,” she said.

“If we have monoculture agriculture, taking away from that diversity, it threatens below- and above-ground diversity.

“It is important to look at both aspects in the way we use the land.

“How we develop and grow our food – encouraging biodiversity to be coming back into the system, is key.”

Fuller said ecotourism brought tourists to South Africa. “This brings a lot of investment and creates a lot of job opportunities.

“As a country, we have amazing opportunities, but we also have challenges in the use of the land and resources. “In the Western Cape’s flora kingdom – home to the global biodiversity hotspot – we have over 9 000 different plant species, which is incredible.

“It represents the smallest but the most biodiverse plant kingdom in the world, because 70% of those plants grow here and nowhere else – making us a global icon of biodiversity,” Fuller said.

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Biodiversity is crucial in South Africa

Neurosurgeon Dr Paul Cluver of Paul Cluver Family Wines, has emerged as SA’s WWF conservation champion.

It has been acknowledged as an environmental leader in the wine industry for a commitment to conservation, for employing responsible production practices, integrated environmental management systems, spearheading innovations in water, energy efficiency and climate adaptation.

Over half of the De Rust Estate’s 2 400 hectares is a natural conservancy with official conservation status.

The indigenous and unique flora and fauna of this area on Elgin’s Groenlandberg are protected in a conservation partnership between Paul Clüver and Cape Nature.

As part of Paul Cluver’s rehabilitation of indigenous vegetation, over 800 endemic trees have been planted, with the farm is actively involved in removing invasive alien plants – creating ecological corridors running between the farm and the Overberg Mountain range.

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