Beekeepers Hit by Natural Disaster in Spring, Beekeepers Say Zero Harvest in 50 Years, Government Offers Multiple Subsidies

Drought occurred in January and February this year, causing the flowering rate of nectar source plants such as lychee and longan to be less than half, and honey production plunged to one-tenth of previous years. In response to the natural disaster, the Agriculture and Food Agency of the Council of Agriculture, the Counseling Office of the Council of Agriculture, and the Miaoli District Agricultural Research and Extension Station (hereinafter referred to as the Miaoli DARES) are providing various subsidies, including sugar subsidies to sustain bee colony life; in addition, "bee colony relief" has been incorporated into the natural disaster relief regulations, with a subsidy of 600 yuan per hive, and applications can be filed according to the actual number of hives at the apiary, with no application cap; at the same time, subsidy applications for seven types of small beekeeping machinery have been opened.

Because natural disasters are frequent and hard to predict, the Agriculture and Food Agency stated that it will launch "beekeeping industry insurance" and is currently working out the details with the Bureau of Agricultural Finance.

Beekeeping Association: Drought Affects Flowering Adversely, Longan Honey Output Nearly Zero

Cheng Chin-kun, chairman of the Taiwan Beekeeping Association, said, "This year there really is very little nectar source." Due to the impact of the drought, the flowering rates of lychee trees and longan trees were both very unsatisfactory, and bees could hardly collect nectar. For lychee trees, better areas still had 30 to 40 percent of the yield of previous years, while longan trees were in an even worse situation, with honey production only one-tenth of previous years, and in some areas even zero.

Huang Yuan-tsai, a beekeeper who has kept bees for nearly 50 years and mainly collects honey in Wufeng, Taichung, also sighed, "Encountering a situation like this where even the flowers did not bloom, this is the second time I have come across it, and it is also the most severe one." According to his understanding, longan and lychee honey in central Taiwan had almost zero harvest, mainly due to last year's warm winter and the drought in January and February this year. He further stated that this year people kept going to Wufeng to survey the flowering situation, but even by Qingming Festival there were still no flowers, so they simply did not even send out the bees, because there really was no nectar to collect.

Miaoli DARES: Providing Sugar Subsidies to Help Bees Stay Alive

Wu Tzu-hsien, section chief of the Bee Production Section at the Miaoli DARES, explained that bees collect honey only once a year, and during the period before honey collection, beekeepers must also feed enough sugar syrup to the bees to maintain their basic needs. Generally speaking, beekeepers use granulated sugar as the source of sugar syrup for feeding bees, and this is also a "necessary cost" of beekeeping. This year, because of the natural disaster, honey production decreased and beekeepers' income was low, so this year "sugar subsidies" will be provided.

Peng Chuan-yi, a technical specialist in the Agricultural Materials Division of the Agriculture and Food Agency and a person in charge of the beekeeping industry, added that applying requires registration of the "fact of beekeeping," while the remaining required documents and application deadline are still being worked out in detail because the meeting only discussed the direction yesterday (the 29th).

Regarding the sugar subsidy, Huang Yuan-tsai said, "It does provide some subsidy to beekeepers, and it is good care." However, he also suggested that many beekeepers are now elderly and do not understand processes such as applying for subsidies, filling out documents, and registering information. Although local production and marketing groups will also help assist, if the application process could be further simplified, it would be of greater help to the entire beekeeping industry.

"Bee Colony Relief" Incorporated into Natural Disaster Relief, Applications Can Be Filed According to Actual Number of Bees Kept

Another adjustment to beekeeping industry subsidies is to incorporate "bee colony relief" into the natural disaster relief regulations. Wu Tzu-hsien explained that in the past, natural disaster relief for beekeeping often judged disaster subsidies only on whether "beehives were damaged or not," because typhoons often blew apart and damaged beehives at apiaries. However, in recent years, with abnormal climate, after natural disasters such as cold damage and heavy rain, there have been more and more cases where the beehives were still there but the bee colonies died, so there is a plan to include "bee colony relief" among the natural disaster subsidy items.

In addition to no longer using only whether beehives were damaged as the basis for subsidies, in response to this natural disaster, the Agriculture and Food Agency also proposed an adjustment to "cancel the maximum subsidy cap."

Peng Chuan-yi explained that under the natural disaster relief regulations, a half-destroyed beehive is subsidized at 300 yuan per hive, and a fully destroyed one at 600 yuan per hive, with a maximum subsidy of 49,000 yuan per site. However, according to statistics from the Agriculture and Food Agency over the past three years, the average number of beehives per apiary is 163. If calculated on the basis of fully destroyed beehives (600 yuan per hive), the maximum subsidy would cover only 82 hives. In other words, apiaries with more than 83 hives would basically lose everything, and most apiaries in the country currently have more than 100 hives. Therefore, this time the cap of 49,000 yuan is being canceled, and apiaries can apply according to the actual number of beehives they keep.

Seven Types of Machinery Open for Application, Subsidy Amount Is 1/3 of the Price

In addition, in terms of small agricultural machinery, seven types of machinery are also open for beekeepers to apply for. These include bee brushing machines, royal jelly collection machines, honey collection machines, honey extractors, sugar mixing machines, bee feed mixers, and dryers. The subsidy amount is 1/3 of the price, and beekeepers in need can apply nearby at their local farmers' associations.

Will Honey Prices Fluctuate? Beekeeper: Some Was Kept Last Year

And with fewer nectar sources, will this affect honey prices this year? Cheng Chin-kun said that because last year's honey harvest was large, beekeepers more or less kept some inventory, and according to his understanding, prices this year should not be too much higher. Huang Yuan-tsai also explained that, in fact, honey harvests over the past five years have not been very good, and last year was the most abundant of the five years. Most beekeepers know they must "keep some in reserve," so prices this year should not be too expensive.