Bee industry strategy to sustain the honey-bee population and manage apiculture in the Western Cape: management improvement plan

The Western Cape Department of Agriculture has published the Bee industry strategy to sustain the honey-bee population and manage apiculture in the Western Cape: management improvement plan. This strategy follows the publication of Sustaining the honey bee population and apiculture in the Western Cape: final strategy report in October 2017. "This strategic engagement was born out of the need to address a number of critical issues that are hampering the productivity and sustainability of the apiculture industry and the honey bee (and by implication the fruit and berry industries) in the Western Cape. The process was initiated and funded by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) and facilitated by Agrifusion as appointed by WCDoA.

It is widely accepted that the sustainability of the honey bee will contribute to securing food sources for the future. We are dependent upon honey bees as an insect pollinator to ensure the successful growth of many agricultural commodities. The number of managed colonies in a certain area need to be sufficient in contributing towards satisfying the demand for pollination in that area. In order to understand this correlation for South Africa and consider the growth of the agricultural industry in the next few years, we would need to understand the demand and supply and plan for future needs."