Spanish Beekeepers Struggle After Summertime Fires

This summer’s horrendous blazes have had a dramatic impact on biodiversity, a beekeeper has warned.

Forest fires caused devastating damage in various regions across Europe during this summer’s heatwave, and Spain was one of the worst hit countries.

In the east of the country, 20,000 hectares of woodland burned to the ground.

Local beekeepers have warned that their colonies will struggle to find nectar in the next three years as it takes a long time for biodiversity to reestablish in forests and meadows.

Javier Molins works as a beekeeper in Bejis, a small municipality in the province of Castellon. Only seven of his 155 honey-bee colonies survived the summertime blazes, according to La Vanguardia.

Picture shows fire near Bejis, Castellon in Spain, August, 2022. (NewsX/BF)

Molins told the newspaper: “It felt like being pushed to the ground. Now I have to start anew.”

The beekeeper acquired new colonies after the fire had been extinguished. But he underlines that it would take the new additions at least one year to produce honey.

Spain is one of the world’s leading producers of honey.

Nearly three million hives are located in the western European country, according to figures released by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development in September 2021.

That means Spain (2,967,000) takes the top spot in this regard, followed by Romania (2,247,000) and Poland (1,766,000).

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