Mass bee deaths in some Russian regions will cause a 20% drop in honey production, president of the Russian National Union of Beekeepers Arnold Butov said at a news conference at the Izvestiya daily press center on Thursday, August 8.
“Some ‘experts’ estimate losses at RUR 1 trln ($15 bln). But this amount is not accurate, for it is impossible to calculate losses when we do not know how many bees died exactly,” the expert said.
According to Butov, 30 regions faced mass honey bee deaths; from 5% to 20% of bee colonies died in each of them.
Butov said that the deaths could have been caused by the use of pesticides in the neighboring areas with some of the farmers being not able to relocate their apiaries due to their weight. He added that both bee deaths and cold weather will affect this year’s honey production.
“Nectar is only developed at a temperature of -18C°-20C° in the night and + 24C° in the day, but in many regions the weather is currently colder,” he added.