Beekeepers demand support from the government to avoid the death of the sector and bees

This Thursday, a group of beekeepers demanded government support for the sector so that this activity and the bees do not die, during a protest held in Evora, next to the building where the meeting of the Council of Ministers is taking place.

Beekeepers from Beira Baix, Alentejo and Algarve began to gather about an hour before the start of the meeting of the Council of Ministers behind the railing, a few dozen from the palace of D. Manuel, where the government meeting was held.

When government officials arrived on the scene, the demonstrators stepped up their protests and shouted slogans such as “Madam Minister, do something for the bees, they’re dying” or “This government is killing our bees.”

With the help of whistles, horns, and fumigators (usually used to release smoke and calm the bees), many held up signs that read “Without bees, there is no food” or “The crisis has touched us.”

“One of the major problems is that we do not have support at the national level. The Minister of Agriculture does not want to know about us,” lamented José López Afonso, a beekeeper from the Castelo Branco region, in statements to the Luz Agency.

Pointing out that a drought in this sector could reduce production by “70% or 80%”, the beekeeper stressed that “the Spaniards get a big subsidy” for the colony and that the Portuguese “are not entitled to anything”.

“And we are all in Europe,” emphasized José López Afonso, stressing that, given the difficulties in this sector, the Minister of Agriculture, Maria do Seu Antunes, “turns away and does not want to know anything.”

“One day there will be no beekeeping in Portugal. The bees are dying and we are starting to lose heart,” he added.

According to Filipa Almeida, also a Castelo Branco beekeeper, politicians are “withdrawing all support” for Portugal, which “already was one of the countries that had the least support” and became “the only country in the European Union without any support directly into production” .

“We ask policy makers to consider beekeeping as an activity that has social, economic and environmental value and that is important to appreciate, because, in the end, everything they give us, we give back threefold,” he stressed.

Filipa Almeida warned that “there is a deep disregard for this sector”, that “there are beekeepers resigning” and that “in the short term this will mean the death of huge hives”.

“Indirectly, this will affect the value of products for end consumers, not only honey, but since there will be no pollination, there will be a general drop in food production, and the end consumer will pay the bill,” he warned.

Three teachers protested along with the beekeepers, one of them the author of a scandalous cartoon in which the prime minister appears with a pig nose, Pedro Brito in a sweater with an image.

At the entrance to the meeting of the Minister of Territorial Unity, Tomas Lavouras of the JSD of Évora delivered a letter to the minister warning of the problems causing the departure of qualified young people from the hinterland to the coast and abroad.