An outbreak of American Foulbrood disease (AFB) is decimating the Western Cape’s bee population and threatening the province’s R15 billion agriculture industry.
American Foulbrood disease is a debilitating disease for bees and since an outbreak was first reported in the Western Cape in 2009, researchers estimate 40 percent of the province’s bee population has been killed.
Most towns in the province are said to be affected by the disease, with the bee industry claiming the affected region stretches from the West Coast town of Vredendal to the Klein Karoo town of Oudtshoorn in the southern Cape.
Bees and pollination contribute about R16bn to the GDP of South Africa and about R10bn of that is generated in the Western Cape, prompting Economic Opportunities MEC Alan Winde’s immediate intervention to save the province’s bees.
Winde said the knock-on effects to the industry would be devastating.
“American Foulbrood disease has proved difficult to control. If we do not take quick action, this could result in devastating economic losses, primarily in agriculture and food security, putting thousands of jobs on the line.”
Crops are dependent on bees for pollination and the fruit industry in the Western Cape requires between 120 000 and 140 00 pollination units annually, with the demand increasing each year.
An estimate by the provincial Department of Agriculture indicates that the province’s average level of infection within an AFB disease-infected beekeeping operation is estimated to be between 5 and 10 percent this year.
Winde said infected colonies either die or need to be culled by beekeepers to prevent them from contaminating other operations. He said although the National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries had passed legislation which prohibits the movement of any infected colonies, he was aware of the capacity constraints making it difficult to enforce these regulations.
Brendan Ashley Cooper, a bee-farmer and committee member of the Western Cape Bee Industry Association, said the government had failed in its mandate to protect honey bees by controlling honey imports. “The government has been doing a terrible job, they have not been able to control imports and the disease came in with imported honey,” he said.
Ashley Cooper said they suspect AFB came into the country via an SADC country and was passed off as African honey. It was, in fact, imported honey carrying spores, he said.
Mike Allsopp, from the Agricultural Research Council, was in agreement that AFB arrived in imported honey. “No one knows how bad it will get. It is possible that our bee population will adapt, and it will be of limited concern, but it can also be a full-scale epidemic that results in massive (greater than 50 percent) losses in our commercial bee population if not properly managed,” he warned.
Winde said he wrote to the National Minister of Agriculture to offer the Western Cape’s full co-operation in the management of the bee population, with particular reference to AFB.
Other steps taken included the Red Tape Reduction Unit conducting analysis to assess best practice in managing the disease, and the department hosting information sessions with farmers.
Winde said the pollination industry was an important economic generator and research done by the department indicated that out of the 115 leading global food crops, 87 were dependent on annual pollination.
Meanwhile, bee farmers have warned of another looming crisis – lessening food forage needed by bees to survive.
Ashley Cooper said: “Food, like the gum trees, are being cut down and this is a very important concern to us. Coupled with the diseases, there is now a decline in the amount of food forage available to keep our bees healthy. All plants need to be pollinated somehow and now we are losing bees to this disease and we are losing places to keep bees. Without bee food forage, we cannot expand our number of hives to cater to the expanding pollination industry.”
Government departments had “demonised the gum tree”, he said and the trees were being removed from areas where bees “have been kept forever”. “This is as bad, if not more of a problem than the bee disease. Soon there will be no place left to keep bees. There are no bee plants being planted by the government and there’s nothing being considered by the government to save this very important insect.”