- Traffic restrictions are preventing commercial apiarists from moving hives as the countryside comes into bloom, depriving the colonies of sustenance
- The insects play a vital role in pollinating crops that account for about 90 per cent of the food eaten around the world
Chinese beekeeper Mo Jiakai should be as busy as the inhabitants of his 200 or so hives at this time of year.
He and his wife should be close to Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan, ready for the colonies to make the most of the canola crops coming into bloom.
Instead the 48-year-old is stuck much further south near Panzhihua trying to keep the bees alive as blanket traffic bans imposed to stop the coronavirus epidemic put their livelihood in danger.
"We would have to go into quarantine for 14 days upon our arrival in Chengdu, which means the hives would be left to starve and die," said Mo, who has been in the beekeeping business for more than two decades.
"For beekeepers, life is an adventure chasing blossom, but how can we if roads are blocked?" Mo said, adding that "without flowers, bees would die".
Mo is among roughly 300,000 commercial beekeepers in China, many of who have struggled to keep their businesses alive amid tight restrictions on travel throughout the country.
But the threat is not only to their livelihood " agricultural experts said that food crops that were heavily dependent on bees for pollination could also be in danger.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, of the 100 crops that account for 90 per cent of the food eaten around the world, 71 rely on bee pollination.
That includes about 85 per cent of the fruit in China, from apples, oranges and pears, to peaches and grapes. Honeybees are also widely used for pollination to improve the productivity of many crops, including soybean, a staple in China.
"The honeybee plays an irreplaceable role in growing almonds, pears and peaches as well as strawberries in greenhouses," The Beijing News quoted Wu Jie, former director of the Institute of Apicultural Research under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, as saying.
Wu said the production and quality of fruit would be lower without the honeybee.
The apparent suicide of a beekeeper earlier this month in Sichuan prompted the Apicultural Science Association of China to try calm fears in the industry.
In a letter to members throughout the country, the association said the beekeeper despaired to see his colonies dying because traffic restrictions kept them away from much-needed food.
It said that at this critical moment in the national fight against the coronavirus, beekeepers should remain calm and "always value their own lives first".
In a notice issued on February 15, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Transport as well as the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, urged local governments to ensure the passage of freight essential for daily life " an order that also applies to beekeepers. But still Mo is stuck.
For Mo and many beekeepers, the traffic restrictions are yet another blow in an already tough business battered by climate change and the proliferation of pesticides.
"Now the winter is not as cold as before, so the climate in spring is unstable, which means that honey production has decreased for years," Zhou Linsheng, another Sichuan beekeeper, said.
While China is now encouraging workers to gradually return to work, Mo said severe labour shortages also meant that it was difficult to find workers to help build the hives. Transport costs have also skyrocketed.
"We are not welcomed by villagers who fear we will bring in the virus, even though we try to reassure them that we just stay on farms," Mo said.
Mo's only hope is that the coronavirus outbreak would be contained soon so that he and his honeybees can take wing again.
"We were stuck in Yanan in (northwestern China's) Shaanxi province for half a month in May 2003 when Sars broke out," Mo said, referring to the severe acute respiratory syndrome, another coronavirus disease that killed more than 700 people between November 2002 and July 2003.
"I hope everything will return to normal in May at the latest so that we don't miss the flowering season in northern China," Mo said. "But before that, I don't really know where to go, probably just go wherever I can."
If you are having suicidal thoughts, or you know someone who is, help is available. For Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on +1 800 273 8255.
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