Beekeepers affected by fire in Odemir received support from the state

Beekeepers affected by the fire a year ago in Odemira have already received state aid to maintain the hives that “escaped” the fire, the Beekeepers Association of the Southwest Alentejo and Costa Vicentina (AASACV) reported.

“For the first time, the state has provided significant assistance to beekeepers for hives that did not burn down but were damaged by fire,” the association’s president, Fernando Duarte, explained to Lusa on Tuesday.

The fire, which raged for six days in the municipality of Odemira in the district of Beja and also affected the municipality of Aljezur in the district of Faro, destroyed more than 200 and affected more than 1,000 beehives, the official said.

“A little over 200 hives burned down, but only a few beekeepers applied to replace their productive capacity,” said the head of the association, based in the municipality of Odemira.

According to him, the fire affected “545 [colmeias] in the Algarve and 537 in Alentejo”, with beekeepers “receiving for the first time a cash aid of 6.80 euros” from the state.

The aid was used to “buy food and maintain the hives that had just lost all their ‘pastures,'” he said.

In September 2023, the government created an emergency support of 25 thousand euros, aimed at beekeepers affected by the fires that occurred in May and August of that year in the Algarve municipalities of Aljesur and Monchique and the Alentejo municipality of Odemira.

This “unique assistance” made it possible to “help beekeepers buy food for their bees at the beginning of the winter that followed” the fire, at a time when the landscape “was absolutely empty”, acknowledged Fernando Duarte.

Starting on August 5, 2023, in the Baiona area, in the parish of São Teotónio (Odemira), the fire spread to the Algarve municipalities of Monchique and Aljesur, and only six days after its outbreak it was considered to be under control.

According to the Institute for Nature and Forest Conservation, the fire was the largest recorded in 2023, covering at least 7,530 hectares.

Lucé, president of the association that includes beekeepers from the Alentejo coast, Costa Vicentina and the western Algarve, stressed that the state “has never provided such significant assistance as in the case of this fire.”

“It was exemplary fast, which is not very common in Portugal, but they distributed it efficiently and quickly [das ajudas] And this process was very simple, without any bureaucratic complications,” he emphasized.

However, he added, this aid is “never enough” because “the losses are incalculable.”

“This was important and significant assistance that allowed beekeepers to maintain and, in a sense, slightly restore” their activities, since “the losses were much greater” than the amounts paid,” he emphasized.

Honey production “was affected” in the area by the fire, but the director said that because there was “more than normal” rainfall last winter, “beekeepers have recouped some of their losses.”

At first, “the bees had to be fed so they wouldn’t die,” but with the growth of vegetation and the regeneration of some species, “such as rosemary and strawberry trees,” production could be guaranteed, he assured.