(NaturalNews) For the first time, Japan has been hit with a large-scale
collapse of honeybee populations like that experienced in other
countries around the world.
"There have been small-scale honeybee losses for many years, but a
massive collapse like they had in the U.S. is very unusual," said
Kiyoshi Kimura of the National Institute of Livestock and Grassland
Science. "We must investigate the situation in Japan."
The phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder, in which large numbers
of worker bees simply vanish, was first identified in the United States
in 2006. Since then, it has also been reported across Europe and, most
recently, in Taiwan.
In Japan, the Japanese Beekeeping Association undertook a survey of its
2,500 members and determined that 25 percent of all beekeepers had
"experienced sudden losses of honeybees" on some scale.
"The number of beekeepers to lose large numbers of bees was more than we
expected," Kimura said.
Although most honey in Japan is imported, honeybees play a critical role
in the pollination of a wide variety of fruit and vegetable crops in the
country. According to Osamu Mamuro, owner of a company that supplies
beehives to farmers for pollination purposes, populations of the insects
have dropped so drastically that he expects to have to cut his
deliveries by more than 50 percent this year.
"If this keeps up," he said, "it'll be the end of my business."
A wide scale collapse of bee populations might also mean local food
shortages. At the very least, it would probably mean rising prices as
farmers turn to hand pollination and retailers turn to importation to
make up for lessened domestic production.
"From now on," said the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries,
"it is possible that it will be increasingly difficult to secure
honeybees for the purposes of pollinating eggplant, melon, watermelon
and other produce plants."
Sources for this story include: www.freshplaza.com.