No pesticides needed to prevent bee mites: Yilan University professor extracts organic thymol, cheap and natural

Bees generate tens of millions of New Taiwan dollars in output value worldwide every year, yet about 30% of bees die from the "Varroa mite" virus. Farmers in Taiwan have long used a single pesticide, "fluvalinate", and in recent years resistance has emerged.

Chen Yu-wen, a professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Animal Science at National Ilan University, spent five years developing Taiwan's first organic material for controlling bee mites, extracting thymol crystals from the herb thyme. A single hive box costs only 100 yuan a year, and the control effect reaches over 90% - cheap and natural. It made its debut at the biotechnology exhibition yesterday, drawing considerable public attention, and is expected to be transferred for commercial launch next year, with hopes of capturing overseas markets in the future.

Varroa mites are like vampires, killing 30% of bees every year

About one-third of the world's crops depend on bee pollination. In Taiwan alone, the annual output value of crops pollinated by bees reaches NT$50 billion, yet in recent years bees have been dying in large numbers worldwide, a phenomenon internationally known as "colony collapse disorder" (CCD). Opinions on the cause vary; besides climate change, the "Varroa mite" virus is also considered by many experts to be the main culprit.

Lu Mei-chun, head of the Sericulture and Apiculture Section at the Miaoli District Agricultural Research and Extension Station, said Taiwan has about 810 beekeepers and 110,000 hive boxes. The Varroa mite can be called the number one killer of bees. Varroa mites are external parasites of bees; they lay eggs in the cells where drones live, and after emerging they attach directly to the backs of drones, sucking body fluids until the bees die. Abroad they are also known as "vampires".

More seriously, Varroa mites are carriers of many viruses. Bees are social animals, so it is easy for Varroa mites to rapidly spread viruses, such as the deformed wing virus that terrifies beekeepers. The Miaoli station estimates that more than half of Taiwan's apiaries harbor latent bee viruses. Infected bees cannot fly, or show deformed wings, swollen abdomens, paralysis and other symptoms; in severe cases, half the bees may be lost within 3 days.