Beekeepers march on Downing Street
PUBLISHED: 14:27 05 November 2008 | UPDATED: 08:28 28 March 2014
NOVEMBER 5, 2008: Angry beekeepers will march on Downing
Street this afternoon (Wednesday, November 5), to demand funding to
halt the rapid demise of the bee population.
According to the president of the British
Beekeeper Association Tim Lovett, one third of British bee colonies
have been lost over the last year.
He warned that disease and poor husbandry were putting the bee and its benefits at risk.
“We are told English honey will run out around Christmas time – it has been a very, very bad season,” said Mr Lovett.
The
British Beekeepers’ Association estimate that pollination, largely by
honey bees, contributes £165 million a year to the agricultural
economy.
Beekeepers are asking the Government for an £8 million
investment spent over 5 years – with money directed into disease
research, developing medicines, breeding bees resistant to the Varroa
mite and better husbandry.
Shadow Agriculture Minister, Bill
Wiggin said: “Government investment in bee research should reflect its
importance to our rural economy, food production and bio-diversity, and
not become some kind of peripheral issue.
“When I meet with Tim Lovett today I will reassure him that we will make this a research priority for Defra,” he said.
