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£4.3 million bee health funding increase announced

DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT, FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS News Release (10/09) issued by COI News Distribution Service. 21 January 2009

An extra £4.3 million to safeguard and undertake more research into the health of bees was announced by Environment Secretary Hilary Benn today.

Mr Benn said that nearly £2.3 million over the next two years would support the work of the National Bee Unit in its efforts to help England's beekeepers deal with the problems facing their bee colonies.

This will include identifying all those who keep bees and providing expert advice to them on tackling pests and diseases and applying good husbandry.

In addition, Defra will put an extra £400,000 towards bee health research every year for the next five years. This extra funding - a total of £2 million - forms part of a comprehensive bee health strategy, which is under development.

Over the last two years Britain's bee colonies have suffered significant losses due to a combination of potential issues including the weather, the varroa mite, and other factors requiring further investigation by researchers.

Speaking today at the Royal Society of Chemistry, Mr Benn said:

"Bees are vulnerable to a number of threats. Pests and diseases, when combined with poor summers can leave colonies unable to survive the winter.

"We must get to grips with this, to see just how serious a problem it is, what the impacts on pollination are, and what we can do in response.
"So today I am announcing an additional £4.3 million of funding, targeted at bee disease surveillance, education and research."

Mr Benn also highlighted the important role science will have to play in producing enough food to feed nine billion people by 2050, while simultaneously protecting the environment.

He continued:

"We must ensure that in meeting demand today we don't destroy our ability to feed ourselves tomorrow.

"We're trying to find ways of producing more food, for more people, using less energy, less fertiliser and less pesticide, while producing fewer greenhouse gases - and we've got to do all that with limited land and limited water.

"I believe that we have the knowledge and the technology to do this, but the perfect storm of climate change, environmental degradation and water and oil scarcity, threatens our ability to succeed.

"It is science that will help steer us through that storm."
Notes to editors:

1. Defra will publish its Bee Health strategy and further details of how this funding will be allocated in the coming weeks, after the National Audit Office publish its report on Animal Health.

2. More information on Defra's bee health programme can be found on the Defra website http://www.defra.gov.uk/hort/bees/index.htm and more on the work of the National Bee Unit (NBU)can be found on the Beebase website https://secure.csl.gov.uk/beebase/. Beekeepers can register with the NBU on line at https://secure.csl.gov.uk/beebase/public/register.cfm or by contacting the NBU on 01904 462510 or email nbu@csl.gov.uk. On registering beekeepers can request a free apiary visit by a Bee Inspector who will provide advice on disease recognition, control and husbandry.

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