Beekeeping blues

“Bees are on the way to becoming extinct”, beekeeper José Júlio Santos Glória, 54, from Portelas told us. “It’s a sad fact. Every year there are less, and less honey is produced,”

We were standing in the cool garage workshop he’s converted into a small honey factory. All along one wall, stand gleaming stainless steel containers – for various types of honey – and opposite, there is all manner of machinery and contraptions for crushing, sieving and separating honey.

But, what’s most interesting, are the other visitors present. Bees, scores of them! They were everywhere! On the machines, in the air, tasting the honey – the room was literally humming with bees.

“Oh dear, I wish they wouldn’t do this!” Santos Glória looked up to the ceiling where dozens of bees flew around the neon strip-light. “You’re not allergic are you? Well, they’re all very peaceful at the moment, they shouldn’t sting…”

They didn’t – and for some reason, I wasn’t in the least bit concerned that they would. I was more interested in learning why these wonderful creatures that pollinate the world’s flowers and sustain Nature should be on their way out.

“There are so many reasons”, Zé Júlio shrugged. “Bees have always had to worry about parasites and predators, but these days, they’ve got the problems of pesticides, radiation caused by mobile phones, changes in the electrical field – and the Government!”

The Government?

“So many demands! So many obligations! I was at a meeting about beekeeping in the Algarve not long ago. I was somewhere at the back, and I realised that all I could see in front of me were bald heads! Everyone in the room was my age, or older! What does that tell you? It tells you that young people aren’t going into beekeeping! The Government should be making efforts to sustain this industry; they should be encouraging young people into it. But, the reality is that all they do is make things difficult – and beekeeping has always been treated as the poor relation of agriculture.

“There were around 200 beekeepers from all over the Algarve at the meeting. All very concerned about the products we’re obliged to use to keep down the worst parasite right now, the varroa mite. They are very expensive, and no-one is convinced that they’re 100 per cent effective. In Spain, for instance, there are much cheaper products – but they’re not approved here in Portugal. If we’re caught using them, we would be liable for huge fines – but if we use the Government products, and our bees die, would we receive any compensation? It’s issues like these that are ruining the whole beekeeping industry”.

By law, Zé Júlio has to treat his hives twice a year with a Government-approved product, which works out costing €6 per hive. He’s on his way to having 400 hives – after a lifetime in the business – and thus the obligatory cost of treating them comes to €4.800 a year.

“It’s a fortune! Once you work out how much you’re spending on products, on everything else you need to satisfy all the State’s rules and regulations, then add your social security payments and the petrol you use visiting your hives, and you end up realising that you’re working for the Government!”

Indeed, the consensus at the beekeepers’ meeting, held by the Direcção Geral de Agricultura do Algarve, was that it was time to give up.

“Old people don’t have the patience for these type of complications”, dos Santos explained. “Apiculture is high-risk, and uncertain. The future is not rosy”.

It is also not helped by the mushrooming of the region’s large commercial centres.

“In the old days, I used to sell my honey in a number of little grocery stores, as well as the Saturday fruit and vegetable market in Lagos”, he told. “But now, a lot of these little stores have closed down – and the shopping malls get their honey from large producers. Some of it isn’t really honey at all!

“The best honey in the world is here, in the Algarve”, he stresses. “But, for example, this year, I’m getting only 4 – 5 kilos of honey from each hive. It should be more like 20 – 30 kilos – but it was a bad year in terms of when the rain came.

“Do you know how many flowers a bee has to visit to make a kilo of honey?” He asks suddenly. “Two million!”

Notwithstanding all the problems, José Júlio Santos Glória has an uncommon passion for his bees. “I’ve been passionate about bees since the age of seven!” he smiles. “But now I’ve told my son, when he’s 20, if he wants to take over this business, it’s his! I’ve also told him, it’s not going to be easy”.