Fermanagh Beekeepers Association
THE ROLE OF THE HONEYBEE
The role of the honeybee in the food chain and the environment has been proved by research at the Integrated Agricultural Crops Research Establishment at Rothamsted. Insects carry out eighty per cent of ALL pollination and the honeybee carries out eighty per cent of that.
Seventy crops in the British Isles depend on the honey been for pollination. Oil Seed Rape although wind pollinated has its yield increased by fourteen per cent, about half a hundredweight per acre. The bee also gives an evenness of pollination, which facilitates the crop harvest. A EU Report showed that honeybees were fifteen times more valuable to agriculture than their keepers.
| The importance of both the honeybee and the Beekeepers has sadly been
underestimated in this country. The
beekeepers have been taken for granted for far too long, and in many cases are seen as
eccentrics. There are about 200,000 colonies
of honeybees in the British Isles. 40,000
owned by the British Bee Farmers Association and the rest by small producers/hobbyists who
are mainly members of the individual Nationalists Associations under the umbrella of the
Council of National Beekeepers Associations, (CONBA). The majority of these small producers has only three or four colonies. They however are the unsung heroes of the organization as they provide the well-distributed pollination of the country, for the gardener, the farmer and the environment, all free. |
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The value in monetary terms of the honeybee is estimated at £12 million for honey but the estimated value of pollination is £6.9 billion. On the 22nd April 1998, during a Beekeeping Debate in the Houses of Parliament, the Rt. Hon. Michael Jack, MP. commented, “…the importance of the honeybee, now classed as a food producing animal should not be underestimated. We ignore the consequences of the demise of this industrious insect at our peril. We need to ensure that there are enough Commercial beekeepers to carry out the specific pollination for growers but the small producer with a few hives is ultimately more important as he is around in greater numbers and quietly gets on with the task in hand. We need to encourage them to continue. If honeybees die out many beekeepers will be deprived of a most pleasurable and essential occupation with the subsequent effect on the environment and the production of crops by growers and farmers”.