Beekeepers across France say it has been a disastrous year for honey, with bees starving and production falling by as much as 80%.
Mickael Isambert, a beekeeper in Saint-Ours-les-Roches in central France, lost 70% of his honey and had to feed his colonies sugar to help them survive after a cold, rainy spring.
“It's been a catastrophic year,” said Isambert, 44, who looks after 450 hives.
A hive normally produces 15 kilos (33 pounds) of honey a year, but this time, Isambert said his farm had only produced between five and seven kilos.
When it rains, the bees “don't fly, they don't go out, so they eat their own honey reserves,” explains co-director and fellow beekeeper Marie Mior.
Low temperatures and heavy rains have prevented bees from collecting enough pollen and flowers from producing nectar (which insects collect to make honey).
'Some died of hunger'
Bad weather has hit honey producers across the country, with spring production down by 80 percent in some regions, figures that summer harvests will struggle to make up for, the French national union of beekeepers (Unaf) said.
Rainfall has increased by 45 percent compared to the annual average, Unaf said in a letter to its local branches.
“With weather conditions that have been catastrophic in many regions with abundant rainfall… and low temperatures until late afternoon, the viability of many beekeepers is threatened,” said Unaf.
Temperatures have stagnated below 18 degrees Celsius (64 Fahrenheit), the minimum temperature needed for flowers to produce nectar, said Jean-Luc Hascoet, a beekeeper in Brittany in western France who has lost about 15 colonies.
“For some of my colleagues it was worse,” he said.
“In June the bee population increases and the needs of the colonies increase, but as nothing was coming in, some died of hunger,” explained Hascoet.
'Black year'
French beekeepers were already suffering from several seasons of scorching heat and late frosts, according to Unaf president Christian Pons, making this “black year” even worse.
“Ten years ago, I produced between one and a half and two tonnes of honey per plot, compared to 100 kilos today,” explains Pons, a beekeeper from the Hérault region (south).
Honey producers protested earlier this year against “unfair competition” from foreign producers, prompting the government to release five million euros ($5.6 million) in aid.
French consumers consume an average of 45,000 tonnes of honey a year, of which around 20,000 tonnes are produced in France, according to the left-wing union Confederation Peasants.
